Demon Wars
by shadrougeforever
Summary: A new and mysterious demon by the name of Devil traps Shadow by turning Rouge into a demon. Now Shadow's merciless and sadistic demonic counterpart, Darkness is back. With Shadow and Rouge both demons, they are a deadly and unstoppable team. Now it's up to The Chaotix and The Council to stop their bloody rampage and save Tech City. ShadowxRouge SonicxSally ShadowxSally COMPLETE
1. Chapter 1

**CHAPTER 1**

The sun was setting high in the sky within the clear sky of Tech City. It was silent outside of the Chaotix Detective Agency with Shadow, Sally, and Sonic blankly staring at the group that were in front of them.

Espio, Rouge, Freya and Charmy stood across from Sky and the strange demonic little girl who was known as Angel who stood next to him. With exhausted looks on their faces, they coldly glared at the two.

Sonic's eyes caught sight of the few four legged monsters were that were covered in brown fur. The monsters were brutally beheaded with their bodies scattered over the black top pavement. He slowly looked away from their bodies and looked at the group that stood in front of him. He didn't know what was going on but he could feel the tension that was going on between everyone. Before he could speak up, he had heard the white bat woman calling out towards Shadow.

Rouge's aqua eyes fell upon the black and red hedgehog and her heart raced in happiness. "Sha-Shadow?"

The ebony hedgehog's ears perked up and his attention was directed away from everything else as he heard her voice calling out to him. "Rouge?"

The male bee directed his attention over at the black and red hedgehog and shouted out in excitement. "Shadow!"

Shadow looked over at the familiar male bee who was happy to see him. It was none other than Charmy. He was back in Tech City and reunited with the Chaotix but he had wondered why. "Charmy?"

While gritting his fangs in uprising anger, the male white bat clenched onto the handle of the scythe he had held over his shoulder tightly as his yellow eyes glared over at Shadow. "Shadow", he spoke in a low and hateful tone.

When Shadow heard him speak his name, his eyes coldly flashed over towards the male bat. "Sky..."

With still not having a clue on what was going on, Sonic could still feel the heated tension in the air. Despite this, he had wanted to make some light of the situation. With a nervous look on his face, he pointed to himself, "Uh, Sonic?"

Sally didn't think that anything was funny with the matter. It was apparent that the Chaotix were caught up in some sort of fight. She placed her hands on her hips and narrowed her eyes over at the blue hedgehog. "Sonic", she spoke in a low and threatening tone.

The young white rabbit girl jumped up in excitement along with a bright and wide smile on her face as she directed her attention towards Shadow. "Darkness-san!"

Before Shadow or anyone else could react, he was suddenly tackled to the ground by the child and found her hugging him tightly.

The group gasped and was taken by surprised as they watched the young girl suddenly throw herself onto Shadow and started to hug him.

The young girl held onto the confused hedgehog in a tight embrace and nuzzled her head onto his chest contently. "Oh, Darkness-san!" She exclaimed in an excited tone. "It's you! It's really you! I can't believe it!"

Sonic arched an eyebrow as he witnessed the young girl hugging a confused Shadow. He turned to Sally with a confused look and spoke in a low voice towards her. "Wha? I think this girl is confused. She just called him Darkness."

While watching the girl hug the clearly uncomfortable hedgehog, a nervous look had formed on Sally's face. She couldn't help but to feel that something strange was going on and it was no coincidence that she called Shadow by his demonic counterpart. "There's something strange about that girl..."

Sky arched an eyebrow and formed a sweat drop on the side of his head as he watched Angel hug Shadow while she had him on the ground. He sighed slightly, "Seriously, Angel?"

Sonic turned back to Shadow who was struggling to remove the girl from him. It appeared that the girl was somewhat strong. He watched as Shadow tried to shove the girl off of him but she would barely budge. "Do you know her, Shadow?"

Shadow continued to try getting the girl off of him but she clung to him tightly and was determined to not let go of him. "I haven't see this girl in my life!"

The longer she watched the girl hug Shadow, the more she had gotten annoyed by it. With her fists clenched, Rouge began to slightly punch her knuckles into each other while glaring at the rabbit child. She took a step forward towards the both of them. "Um excuse me? But..." She suddenly grabbed the girl by her shoulders and forcefully threw her body away from Shadow's. "You mind keeping your hands off of my husband!"

Sky dropped the scythe he had held and watched as the girl was thrown back into his direction. He held out his hands and caught her safely into his arms. "I got you, Angel."

Espio, Charmy, and Freya made their way over to the rest of the group while Rouge had helped Shadow from the ground. Espio glanced over to Angel and then back over to Shadow while he arched an eyebrow, "What the hell was that all about?"

Shadow was just as lost as everyone else was. He hadn't seen that girl at all before but she knew him. She knew who he was and it only made him uneasy about it. He slightly shook his head, "I have no idea."

Rouge's eyes shifted over from Angel and back towards Shadow. "Shadow", she spoke in a low and worried voice. "That girl called you Darkness..."

Shadow mindlessly stared at the strange young girl while Sky put her back down on the ground after catching her in his arms. "...Yeah", he spoke lowly. "I don't know who she is but...she is a demon."

Sonic rose an eyebrow in disbelief towards him. He just knew that there was no way that the child they all saw was a demon. "Wha? That little girl? How can you tell?"

Shadow's eyes were still locked onto the young girl's red eyes while she had given him the same look. "Just look at her. Her eyes, her fangs, her essence..." He slowly clenched his fists, "Like everyone else in The Dark Alliance, she has a strong demonic energy. She's definitely a high ranking demon..."

Freya made a nervous look as she glanced back over to the girl. "Just like Scourge and Fiona..." she murmured in a low tone.

Sky looked down at the rabbit girl with an annoyed look on his face while she happily stared at Shadow. "Angel, what the hell were you thinking throwing yourself all over him like that?"

She clasped her hands together with a slight blush on her face. "Oh Sky-sama, I couldn't help it! Meeting Darkness-san in the flesh? I just got so excited!" She paused when Shadow had suddenly called out to her.

"So your name is Angel right? What do you want?"

She paused and hesitated a moment before she had spoke out to him with a wide smile on her face. "Darkness-san acknowledged me! Pinch me! I'm dreaming!"

Shadow grew impatient with her quickly. He wanted answers from her and he wanted them right then. "Answer the question!" He had spoke in a loud and demanding voice.

Espio had realized that when Angel spoke towards Sky or Shadow, she would use a honorific term after their names. He had thought that she had maybe looked up to them or admired them.

A small yet evil giggle escaped from Angel, "Darkness-san, what are you doing?" While flashing her fangs within her evil smirk, she slowly extended her hand towards Shadow. "You're here with your powers just locked away. You know what you can do. The Hell you can raise on this miserable planet!"

Rouge's eyes widened when she saw Shadow suddenly kneeling down to the ground while holding his neck like he was in pain. Her heart raced as she saw Angel slowly approaching them with her hand still extending outward towards Shadow. She turned back to Shadow in worry, "Shadow!" Before she or anyone else could do anything, she watched as Angel took her free hand and gently swung it through the air. Suddenly Rouge and the rest of the group were suddenly flung away from Shadow. They all fell to the ground after having their bodies forcefully thrown away from Shadow.

Freya slowly tried getting up from the ground. "What the hell?" She groaned lowly.

"It's some kind of telekinesis." Sally's eyes glared at Angel who had approached Shadow once again.

She slightly clenched her hand using it to grab around Shadow's neck without actually touching him. She leaned over to him while he tried gasping for air. "Oh come on. You can do this and more if you allow me to help you reawaken your powers."

Shadow tried to talk as she continued to grab him around his neck. "Go to Hell."

With a slight chuckle escaping her, she took her finger and pressed the tip of it against her wrist.

Shadow's eyes widened as she took her nail that looked practically like a talon and sliced it down the center of her wrist. His heart raced as he saw blood tricking from her wrist. "...No..."

As soon as Angel released her untouchable grip from him, she quickly grabbed him by his neck and slammed his body down onto the ground by using her incredible strength.

Sky's mouth hung open as he watched what was about to happen. 'Angel...she's gonna do it. She's gonna reawaken Darkness...'

Charmy watched everything taking place in front of him and the rest of the group. "Oh no..."

Rouge's heart raced when she caught sight of Angel pinning Shadow down to the ground and holding her bloody wrist above his mouth. "Shadow, no!"

Freya stared as Shadow tried to push Angel away from him. Her heart raced in her chest as she stared at the blood trickling down Angel's arm. 'Wh-what's happening? She's trying to make Shadow drink her blood? What's going to happen? Will he...will he become Darkness?'

Shadow tried to fight her off of him, but she was just too strong. While she held her wrist above him, he felt her blood dripping onto his face.

She giggled as she lowered her wrist down towards his mouth, "Having Darkness-san drink from me? What an honor!" She continued to giggle as her wrist had gotten closer towards his mouth. "Open wide!" Before she could lure her wrist closer to him, she was suddenly knocked away from him by a fast moving blue blur. She fell to the ground causing her to release her grip on Shadow.

Shadow got up from the ground and turned to Sonic who was standing in front of him while he had his eyes fixed upon the demonic child. "Sonic?"

"I don't know who or what the hell you think you are but it looks to me like you're trying to hurt Shadow and his friends. That's not cool, kiddo." The blue hedgehog crossed his arms as he watched Angel stand from the ground and angrily confront him.

Angel gritted her fangs angrily as she glared towards the blue hedgehog. "Who is this blue fool?"

Sonic arched an eyebrow towards her, "Sheesh! Talk about no manners!" He pointed to himself, "The name's Sonic. Sonic The Hedgehog!"

Sally called out to him in worry, "Sonic, be careful! That girl's dangerous!"

Angel angrily huffed under her breath and extended her hand out towards Sonic. "I don't care who you are! You're in the way!"

Before Sonic could make any movements, he found himself suddenly hovering from the ground. "H-Hey! What's going on?"

Espio witnessed Angel's power once again going into play. "Damn", he swore. "More of her mind bullshit."

Angel had then took her free hand and extended it out as well. She then began to slowly clench her hand as if she was grabbing something.

Suddenly everyone had heard Sonic crying out in pain.

Angel continued to slowly clench her hand while she angrily looked at the blue hedgehog. "I'll kill you right where you stand!"

In horror, Freya watched as Sonic suffered while Angel used her powers on him. "Oh God! What's she doing?"

Sky calmly watched as Angel tortured Sonic with her powers. "She's crushing his insides with her power..."

Sally watched in worry as Angel slowly crushed Sonic's insides. "Sonic!"

"Damn it!" With a yellow aurora glowing around his hand, Shadow quickly raised his hand towards Angel's direction. "Chaos Spear!"

Angel was then struck in her shoulder by Shadow's searing attack. She fell back onto the ground causing her to release Sonic.

"Angel!" When Sky saw her fall to the ground, he came rushing to her aid.

Sally had done the same and kneeled down next to Sonic who was on the ground looking downwards and coughing as he tried to catch his breath and held his side. "Sonic! Are you okay?"

He made a small nod while he still looked down to the ground. "Yeah I'm fine, Sal", he spoke in a hoarse tone before she hugged him lovingly in her arms.

Sally nuzzled her head against his chest gently as she was on the edge of tears. "Oh thank God, Sonic."

When Sky picked Angel's body off from the ground and held her in his arms, he saw Shadow confronting him with an angered look on his face.

He clenched his fists tightly while he coldly glared at him. "You have a lot of nerve showing your face around here, vampire."

The vampire bat formed a small smirk, "It's good to see you too dear, brother in law..."

While Shadow hatefully glared at him, Rouge stood next to him and had given him the same look. "Brother!"

Before Sky could say anything else, he felt Angel gently pulling on his black vest. He looked down at her while he held her in his arms and heard her low voice calling out to him.

"Sky-sama, I don't want to play anymore. Let's go home."

He paused for a moment and thought that with her injured and him surrounded, surrendering would be the best thing to do. He made a small nod as he agreed with her, "Yes let us go."

Shadow and the rest of the group watched as the two suddenly disappear within a mysterious black fog

Sally glanced around for any sight of Angel and Sky but they were nowhere to be found. They had gotten away. "They're gone..."

"Pretty sure that won't be the last of them", Espio just knew deep down that this wouldn't be the last time either of them would encounter Angel.

Sonic slightly held the side of his lower stomach as he and Sally walked over to the rest of the group. A slight chuckle had escaped him, "Monsters, vampires, demonic little girls...so this is what the big city is like eh?"

Sally slightly flipped her red wavy hair as she heavily sighed and placed her hand on her hip. "You have no idea..."

Sonic turned to Shadow who still appeared slightly shaken up from his encounter with Angel. He arched a brow towards him. "Hey, Shadow? What the hell was up with that girl anyway? She was trying to make you drink her blood...why?"

Shadow paused from his question and gave the blue hedgehog a worried look. He didn't want to explain to him what Angel's intentions towards him was. He was certain if he told him, Sonic wouldn't look at him the same way again.

Before she allowed Shadow to speak, Sally placed her hand gently on Sonic's shoulder and had him turn to her. "Let me put it to you this way, hun. If Shadow were to drink any demonic blood, his demon powers would be full on at a hundred percent." She didn't want to tell him bluntly that Shadow would basically turn against everyone. If she had, she knew Sonic would definitely think differently of him. She saw the still confused look on his face and gave him an uneasy look. "...I'll explain more about it later."

He made a small nod. He still didn't quite understand everything but he knew it wasn't the exact time and place for her and everyone else try to explain everything. "Okay, Sal."

Espio took a step towards Shadow with a concerned look, "You good, Shad?"

He turned to the purple chameleon and made a slight nod, "Yeah I'm fine."

He could tell from Shadow's reaction that he was still kind of uneasy and he couldn't blame him. With him and everyone watching what was happening, it was a pretty scary situation. However he tried shaking off horrid thoughts that came rushing to his mind and tried focusing on other positive notes. "Sucks you had to come back to such a mess but...we are glad to have you back, Shad."

Charmy nodded in agreement along with a wide smile on his face, "Yeah!"

When Shadow heard his voice, he directed his attention towards the male bee. "Charmy? Not that I'm not happy to see you but what are you doing back in Tech City?"

He crossed his arms with the same wide smile on his face. "Hey you know me! I just can't stay away from this place!"

A slight smile formed on Freya's face as she directed her attention towards Shadow. "Boss, we missed you so much!"

Shadow turned to her and made a small smile back towards her, "I missed you guys too."

Before she took a step towards him, her body froze as he mind was suddenly clouded in thoughts. Yes it was great to have him back with her and the rest of the team but she couldn't get Risa's words out of her head. '...What if Risa is right? What exactly was going to happen if Angel succeeded in making him drink her blood? Would he become like the demons in The Dark Alliance? Would he become a...monster?' She broke out of her thoughts when she heard Rouge's voice calling out to Shadow. She turned and saw Rouge running over to Shadow and wrapping her arms around him happily.

Shadow wrapped his arms around her body and held her close to him. "Rouge?"

With a concerned look, she placed her hands gently on the sides of his face and looked into his eyes. "Are you okay, hunny? I was so worried."

He removed her hand from the side of his face and kissed it softly, "I'm fine, hun. I promise."

"Oh well in that case..." She then took her hand from his and placed her finger against the point of his nose while she narrowed her eyes at him. "Why didn't you tell me you were on your way back from Acorn Kingdom?"

He slightly shrugged his shoulders while having an uneasy look on his face. "Sorry, hun. I didn't call you or anything because I wanted to surprise you."

She took her finger from his nose and crossed her arms as she turned away from him. "You could've texted me or something!"

He laughed slightly and pulled her body against his so he could hold her body close to his. "I said I'm sorry, hun. Calm down already."

With a small smile formed on her lips, she once again turned to him and nuzzled her head against his chest while she embraced him lovingly. "I just really missed you, Shad. I'm glad you're back" she spoke in a soft tone.

"I know. I missed you too, baby." He placed his finger under her chin and made her look up at him before he pressed his lips against hers.

When Sally's eyes caught sight of the two lovers reuniting with each other, flashbacks of her and Shadow's intimacy had flooded her mind. After she and Shadow talked everything out, it was settled that it was just pure tension and nothing else. In Shadow's words he had wanted them both to just forget about it and move on. However deep down, it still bothered her that they were both pretending that none of that ever happened. She felt that she could no longer look at the two and decided that it was time for her to take off for Future City. She turned away from them and the rest of the group, "...I'm going to overview the mission with Miss Wish."

Shadow turned to Sally who was looking outward towards the city. "We both have to report to Sarah about Kingdom of Acorn."

"No", she quickly spoke out while she slightly turned her head to him. "That won't be necessary. I'll take care of everything."

He began to wonder why Sally suddenly wanted to confront Sarah alone and explain their mission. He wondered if she was planning to tell her anything different than what he would've told her. "But, Sally..."

She had then completely turned to him with a serious look on her face. "Your presence isn't necessary. Use this opportunity to spend time with your team and family."

He really wasn't reading her. Her facial expression made it seem like she was upset about something but at the same time, she was being sincere towards him by allowing him to spend time with Rouge and the rest of the Chaotix. "If you say so, Sal."

"We'll keep in touch." After making a slight nod, she turned to Sonic who stood there with a blank look on his face. "Come on, hun. I'll take you to Miss Wish and acquaint you with my team."

He made a nod towards her, "Okay sounds great!" When he saw her beginning to walk into the city, he turned back to Shadow and the rest of the group. "See you guys around! Take care, Shadow!"

Charmy waved as Sonic started to walk away with Sally. "Bye, Sonic! Bye, Sally!"

When they both had walked off, Espio turned to Shadow. "So this Sonic guy? He's gonna be working with Sally and her team now?"

He made a nod as he replied to him, "He's gonna be her new Field Mission Specialist."

The chameleon placed a finger to his chin and found it interesting that Sally's team also now had someone who was a Field Mission Specialist next to theirs. "Interesting..." His thoughts were interrupted when he heard Shadow's voice speaking out to him.

"Anyway, what all's been going on since I've been gone?"

Espio scratched the side of his head and began to slightly think of everything that had happened since Shadow left for his mission with Sally. As he thought about it, quite a lot had been happening within the team and all of Tech City. His eyes glanced over at Rouge, Charmy, and Freya who were giving him grimaced looks. He turned away from them and sighed heavily before directing his attention back to Shadow. "Too much to be honest. You might wanna pull up a chair..."

 **Author's Note: Well here it is! The sequel to Royal Pain is a go! And sorry about the confusion if any of you saw a status update about the story being put on hold due to my internet being out. The issue was apparently fixed soooo yeah. lol Anyway hope you guys enjoyed the first chapter! It's October and I gotta say this story fits perfectly with the spooky mood of the month! This story will have none other than Darkness making a return and once again wrecking havoc upon the city and this time he won't be alone. Expect plenty of violence and gory scenes because let's face it. It's Darkness after all. And also we'll be seeing new villains making an appearance. And if you're confused about why this is ShadowxSally...don't worry. You'll find out.**

 **Alright this pretty much sums it up! Buckle up! It's gonna be one Hell of a ride! See you guys on the flipside!**

 **In The Next Chapter...**

 **Scourge: Who the hell are you?**

 **Angel: Devil, you're back!**

 **Devil: Just leave everything to me...**

 **Sally: Did you tell her? About us?**

 **Shadow: I told you not to mention anything about that.**

 **Rouge: ...Shadow, what happened in Acorn Kingdom?**


	2. Chapter 2

**CHAPTER 2**

Crying and wailing filled the dark and dim playroom of the abandoned orphanage. Crying was the only thing that was heard throughout the quiet building.

Scourge leaned his back against the wall he stood behind and rubbed the side of his head in annoyance while he looked down at the floor. "Christ", he lowly groaned under his breath. "How much longer is she gonna keep this up?" He took his eyes away from the floor and turned to the red fox woman who stood next to him who had her arms crossed and had an annoying look on her face. "The damn kid's giving me a headache."

"What the hell do you want me to do about it?" She replied while having her eyes directed towards the child who laid on the floor in the center of the room.

Luthor stood on the other side of the dark and depressing room. He tried taking his attention away from the crying child by anxiously shuffling a stack of playing cards in his hands while he stood with his back against the wall.

Sky was sitting on an old wooden box crate while he sharpened the blade of his scythe. He paused and directed his eyes towards the demon who sat front and center within the room.

Dark sat in the black throne like chair that was set in the front of the room. He rested his head against his hand with his elbow setting on the arm rest of the chair. His red eyes narrowed over at the young girl who was on the floor in the center of the room.

While laying on her back on the floor, Angel continued to cry and wail as she continued to throw her fit. "Wah! It's not fair! It's not fair!" She cried while flinging her arms and legs around while she laid on the floor. "I was so close! So close!"

With a heavy sigh, Luthor stopped shuffling his playing cards and put them away in the inside of his black tailcoat. He placed his hand on his forehead and slightly shook his head, "For goodness sake, Angela. Get a grip."

She sat up from the floor and turned to Luthor with tears still running down her face, "But...", she sniffed. "But Darkness-san..."

Scourge shrugged his shoulders carelessly, "Okay so you couldn't make him drink your blood. So fucking what? I don't know why you're acting so surprised anyway. You know that guy is practically untouchable." He slightly recalled his last one on one fight with Shadow and remembered that he put up quite a challenge for him.

Fiona made a nod as she agreed with him. "Especially when he's got the rest of The Chaotix behind his back."

Angel turned to Fiona with a hopeless look on her face. "So you're trying to say we won't ever get to see, Darkness-san?"

Luthor had the feeling that the task to reactivate Shadow's demonic powers would be a challenge but not completely impossible. "I'm sure there's someway we can get to him."

Scourge on the other hand figured they would never find a way to turn Shadow. A small laugh escaped under his breath, "Heh, yeah. Good fucking luck." He and the rest of the group was startled when they heard a sudden strange male voice being heard in the room. The voice was calm and content but had a devious tone that sent shivers down everyone's back.

"I think I have the solution to that."

Everyone turned towards the doorway and out of the shadows came a small white rabbit boy. The boy appeared to be around Angel's age. He had snow white hair and red eyes. He wore a black long sleeve collared button up shirt, black shorts, black knee high socks, and black boots that came a little past his ankles. He stepped into the room with a sinister look on his face while having a lollipop in his mouth.

Scourge arched an eyebrow as he studied the mysterious child. While he stared at him, he could clearly feel a strong demonic essence coming from the child. "...Who the hell are you?"

Before the mysterious child could speak, Angel's eyes lit up in excitement before she stood from the floor and ran over to the boy in happiness. "Devil!"

With a speechless look on her face, Fiona watched as Angel ran over to the boy and hugged him from behind. "...Devil?" Who was he? And how did Angel know him?

Angel continued to happily embrace the boy with a wide smile on her face. "I'm so happy to see you, big brother!"

Scourge's mouth hung open as he heard Angel refer the boy as her bother. His eyes shifted over to Fiona. "Did she just say...big brother?"

Sky slightly arched an eyebrow as he watched Angel hug the boy. 'Angel has a...brother?'

With one hand in his pocket, Devil's eyes calmly shifted over to Angel who still hugged him from behind. "Angel", he spoke in a low and calm tone. "It's good to see you again."

"Same here!" She finally released her grip from him and stood in front of him with a wide smile still on her face.

Luthor turned to Dark who not at all seemed surprised to see Devil. He stood beside him and whispered over to him. "Did you know that she had a sibling?"

Dark kept his eyes locked onto the little boy who had his attention towards Angel. He made a small nod, "His name is Devil. He is Angel's older brother."

Luthor placed a finger to his chin and turned back to Angel and Devil. "I see..."

Scourge had overheard Dark talking to Luthor and placed a finger to his chin as he continued to observe Angel and Devil standing side by side each other. "Older brother? They look the same age to me", he spoke as he turned to Fiona.

Fiona observed the two young children as well and thought the two looked very alike. "Yes and they also look very similar. Just by not even knowing them, at first glance the two could practically be twins..."

Devil turned away from Angel and focused his attention towards Dark who had stared him down from where he was sitting. He slowly stepped closer towards him and took the lollipop from his mouth before he bowed towards him. "My lord, it's a pleasure being in your presence again."

"It's been some time, Devlin."

Fiona's eyes shifted back and forth between Dark and Devil. "Well it's good to know he isn't a stranger to Dark", she muttered.

"Dark already knows him?" Scourge's eyes shifted back and forth between Devil and Angel. He murmured to himself, "Christ how old are these fucking kids?"

Before Devil could say anything else to Dark, Angel had spoken to him again. He placed the lollipop back in his mouth as Angel spoke towards him.

"So not that I'm not happy to see you but what brings you back to Tech City, big brother?"

A slight smirk formed on his lips as his eyes shifted away from hers. "Heh, just because I went away, it doesn't mean I've been out of the loop here." He had began to slowly pace around the room while he fiddled with the white stick from the lollipop that was in his mouth. "Back in Azthura, Shadow The Hedgehog also known as Darkness was always a pretty hot topic..."

Scourge arched an eyebrow as he spoke the familiar place, "Azthura?"

Luthor looked over towards the confused green hedgehog, "Azthura is basically a city for high ranking demons such as us. However the demons that stay there are very low profile."

Devil made a nod in agreement, "Demons just like us. Except they try to live among with mortal society. Still killers but just slightly more...humane..."

"Azthura..." Fiona murumured under her breath. "What kind of place is that? Demons and mortals? Together?"

"Azthura is a high crime city. Not many mortals live there because it's so dangerous. Some people even call it Hell's City", Devil had explained.

"Hell's City..." Fiona murmured. "Why haven't I heard of that place before?"

Sky also had a blank look on his face as he never recalled hearing of the city either.

"Enough discussing that trash heap of a city. Cut to the chase, Devil. Why are you here?" Dark had spoke in a rather impatient tone.

Just by hearing Dark's impatient's voice, Devil decided to continue. "Well as you may know Shadow can't turn without him consuming demonic blood."

"Yeah we know that genius" Scourge spoke in a sarcastic tone. "The problem is just getting to him."

He held his finger upwards and slightly waved it around. "But that's because you're approaching him all wrong. The thing is not to get close to him. But to the ones around him. Like friends or...family..."

Sky arched an eyebrow. Was he going to suggest going after someone in the Chaotix or someone who was even close to him? "What are you getting at?"

He laughed slightly under his breath, "What better way to get close to him than to get close to his family."

Fiona had a feeling that he was speaking of Rouge. She arched an eyebrow, "Are you talking about his wife?"

Devil made made a nod, "Yes his mortal lover."

Sky slightly gasped under his breath. What was Devil going to do? Try to kill her? Or even worse. Try to turn her so she could get to Shadow instead. 'Rouge...'

Luthor let out a loud and humorous laugh, "The bat woman? Good luck my boy! She is his wife and the Chaotix's Weapon Specialist so she's not exactly a pushover."

Angel turned to Devil with a confused look on her face, "What are you planning to do with her, brother?"

He took the lollipop out of his mouth and slightly licked around his lips while flashing his fangs. "Just leave everything to me..."

A few days had passed and it was early in the morning within Tech City. Nails was in the bedroom of her apartment. She had a suitcase laying open on her bed while she packed some clothes and other items in it. When she placed a folded white collared shirt inside of it, she stepped away from the suitcase and observed what she had packed in it. She placed her hands on her hips and sighed in relief, "There I think that's everything!" Before she could close the suitcase, she heard someone coming into the bedroom. Her ears perked up when she heard a woman's voice calling out to her in a happy song like tone.

"Oh, Nails", the calm and content voice had called out in a singing like tone.

The black bat woman turned to the doorway and saw an orange female echidna standing at the doorway. She observed her holding a light blue onesie in her hands and holding it up.

She slightly picked her foot off from the floor and lifted it in the air as she gave the bat woman an excited look. "Oh Nails, just look at this adorable outfit I picked up from the store the other day!"

A sweat drop appeared on the side of Nails' head, "Wha-what?" She watched as she practically skipped her way over to her while showering the baby outfit.

She happily held the small outfit up towards her, "Isn't this just the cutest? Spike's gonna love this!"

Nails heavily sighed while she still had her hand on her hip. "Geez, Tikal. How many clothes are you gonna end up getting that child?"

"What do you mean?" She watched as she pointed at the onesie she held up towards her.

"Don't you know how fast babies grow? There's no way Spike's gonna wear all these clothes you keep buying him." She placed her hand on the side of her head while she slightly shook it. "With you always buying him everything, Shadow and Rouge really don't have much to worry about."

Her smile again widened on her face, "Oh Nails, I can't help it! Spike is just so cute! I just wanna shower him in everything that is adorable!"

A small chuckle escaped her. She couldn't deny that Tikal's love for Spike was just utterly adorable. She placed her hand on her shoulder, "I think you're forgetting we're just the babysitters, hun."

She lowered the outfit and held it close to her chest, "I know but with Shadow and Rouge always gone and working so much, we should pretty much just call him ours wouldn't you say?"

Nails let out a slight sigh and walked back over to the suitcase that was still laying on the bed. "Who knew you'd be so obsessed with babies." She closed the suitcase and picked it off of the bed. She spun around to turn back to Tikal. "Well I think that's everything."

Tikal slightly clenched the onesie she had held in her hands and gave her a sympathetic look. "...Do you have to go?"

"Hell yeah. South Island is calling my name!" She placed her hand back on her hip, "Besides there's a place there that has an entire field full of those super rare flowers I've been talking about. I could totally use those for some of my incantations."

Tikal arched an eyebrow as she watched her start walking towards the bedroom door. "You're going all the way there for a flower?"

She spun back around to her, "Hey and a vacation! I'm doing a two for one thing here!"

Her eyes shifted away from hers sadly and looked down towards the floor. "When are you coming back?"

With a small smile on her face, she walked over to her and placed a hand on the side of her face. She began to gently caress the side of her face, "Soon, sweetie. I promise."

She looked back up at her with a small smile on her face.

"Do me a favor and try to keep an eye on things for me while I'm gone okay?"

She made a small nod and placed her hand on hers while she caressed her face. "I will." She took her hand from her face and softly kissed it. "I love you."

"I love you too, sweetie." She gently tugged on her green blazer to pull her into a passionate kiss.

Tikal wrapped her arms around her body and continued to lock her lips with hers. A small moan escaped her while their tongues playfully fought with each other.

When she took her lips from hers, she looked down at the watch on her wrist. Her eyes widened as she looked at the time, "I'm gonna be late for my flight!" She rushed over to the bedroom door, "Bye, Tikal! Call if you need me!"

"I will! Have fun!" She replied back to her before she rushed out of the room.

Meanwhile, Shadow was sitting at the table in the kitchen of his home. He was dressed in casual wear. He wore a white long sleeve collared shirt that was buttoned up to his chest, dark blue jeans, and dark grey shoes. He took a sip of his coffee from the white mug that set beside him on the table. He had his attention directed down towards his phone that was propped up in front of him on the table. He crossed his arms while his eyes fell upon the brown chipmunk woman who's face was shown on the screen of his phone. "So how did the overview go?" He asked before he heard a small feminine sigh coming from the phone.

"It was...better than expected."

As he spoke to her, he noticed that from the chest up that she was wearing her usual work uniform and behind her looked like an office. He took a guess and figured that she was in her office at her detective agency. His eyes slightly shifted away from her, "Shouldn't even be so surprised with how bitter she is about how the mission went. Especially that we both came back fucking empty handed."

She made a small nod, "With no real evidence of Hao being dead, she wants to believe that he's still out there somewhere."

He made a slight sigh and rested his back against the chair he sat in. "I don't blame her. I don't know why but I have a bad feeling that asshole's still alive."

"Well here's to hoping that both you and Miss Wish are wrong."

He made a small nod and placed his hand on the side of his head as he directed his attention back to her. "By the way, Sal. Sorry for video chatting with you so early in the morning. With everything's that's happened while you and I were gone, it's been hella busy. This is my first day off in fucking forever and I'm still floored with what happened with Amethyst's Weapon Specialist."

"Hey I can understand and yeah me too. It's crazy about what happened with Fiona. I think everyone had the feeling that would happen anyway."

"Yeah..." There was a moment of silence between them until he had spoke again. "...Hey, Sal?"

"Yes, Shadow?"

"When we arrived back in Tech City...did you mention to Sarah about..."

She could tell from the expression on his face that he was going to bring up the incident with Angel and Sky. "Angel and Sky? Yes. Did I mention about Angel trying to turn you? No."

He bit his lip slightly. He didn't understand what made her want to keep quiet about Angel trying to turn him. Yes Sarah and the rest of the Council had every right to know but he knew with her keeping quiet about the details, the two could get into trouble for it. "Not that I don't appreciate you for not telling Sarah but...why?"

A small smile formed on her lips, "I know how much being on the Council means to you, Shadow. I wouldn't want to do or say anything that would alarm Miss Wish or the rest of the Council. Besides nothing happened. Everything is fine and will continue to be."

He made a small nod as he wanted to believe that everything would be okay. "Yes thank you, Sally."

Rouge came downstairs almost made her way into the kitchen until she heard a feminine voice speaking out to Shadow from his phone. She paused as she recognized the voice. It was Sally's. But what was she doing talking to Shadow this early in the morning? She froze in her tracks and stood behind the corner while she continued to eavesdrop.

"So", Sally had began. "...Did you tell her?"

Shadow's heart raced. Was she talking about what he thought she was talking about? He knew that Rouge was somewhere in the house and didn't want her to hear any of that part of their the conversation. He quickly took the phone off of video chat and placed the phone to his ear to make the conversation between them more private. "I told you not to say anything about that", he spoke in a low tone.

After witnessing Shadow suddenly taking Sally off of video chat, Rouge knew that Shadow thought that she was somewhere close and he clearly didn't want her to hear anymore of the conversation. She couldn't help but to have a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach.

When Sally realized that Shadow took her off of video chat, she knew right then she should've watched what she had said. "I-I'm sorry, Shadow. I just..." Before she could say anymore, she heard him speak again.

"Sally..." Before he could finish his sentence, he heard footsteps coming into the kitchen. He turned and saw Rouge slowly stepping into the kitchen. She was dressed in causal clothes as well. She wore a black strapless tube top, blue skinny jeans, and black flat shoe. She saw her giving him a strange look and then walk over to the cabinet to get a black mug out of it. Now that she was there in the kitchen with him, he decided it was best to end the call with Sally. "I gotta go. I'll talk to you later." Before he allowed her to speak, he quickly ended the call and set the phone down on the table.

Rouge walked over to the coffee maker and began to pour herself coffee into the black mug she held in her hand. "...Good morning, Shadow."

He could tell from the tone of her voice that she was already suspicious about the phone call he just had. He had no idea if she heard just bits and pieces of the conversation or the entire thing. With his eyes nervously adverting from hers, he replied back to her. "Good morning, hun..."

She leaned her back against the kitchen counter and turned to him while taking a sip from the mug. "You're up early."

He still didn't completely look at her. He just knew she was bound to start questioning him. "...Yeah uh I was discussing with Sally about the overview from the mission."

"Is everything okay?"

He made a small nod, "Yeah everything's fine."

There was a slight and awkward silence within the kitchen until Rouge decided to speak up again. "...I've been noticing that you and Sally have been talking a lot."

Just by her mentioning Sally's name made his heart race.

She looked down at the coffee that was in the mug she held in her hands, "Even when you two got back, I noticed that she didn't once say a hate comment towards you." She looked away from her mug and looked back at him. "I take it you two are better with each other now?"

Despite other things, the two did mature and learn from each other and eventually became friends. For a fact, he wouldn't hide that aspect from Rouge or the rest of the team. They had every right to know that the two were now on each other's sides. "...Well she and I spent a lot of time together while we were in Kingdom of Acorn. She just...understood where I came from and why I struggle so much with the Council."

"So she's not giving you a hard time anymore?"

He made a nod and shifted his eyes back to her, "We've both agreed to put our differences behind us and work together as we should."

"So you're both like...okay now?" It was hard to believe. For years Sally hated Shadow especially for being a half demon. She didn't trust him and wanted him dead out of everyone else on the Council. She wondered what happened. What made Sally suddenly change? Maybe it was from the forced time that the two had to spend with each other. They pretty much didn't have a choice but to start getting along.

He made a small nod towards her, "Yeah she's now on my side."

She couldn't deny that all kinds of thoughts were filling her head. They didn't just simply sit down and talk. Something happened. Something drastic happened between them but what? She couldn't shake the feeling that he wasn't telling her the full story. All she could do was be happy for him that he had made peace with another Council member. She forced a small smile on her face, "Oh Shad, that's great. Luke and now Sally both have your back on the Council now." She placed the mug she held in her hands down on the counter beside her. "At this rate, you'll gain the rest of the Council's trust in no time. I'm happy for you, hun."

God he felt bad. He didn't know the guilt would take him down so badly but it did. He hated hiding anything from Rouge but how would she react? He remembered what Elias told him and he began to just ignore everything he had said. There was no good way to tell her what happened between him and Sally. The best thing he thought he could do was to just simply play everything off and not tell her a thing. But deep down, he couldn't help but to have this feeling that Rouge had knew something else had happened between him and Sally. Nevertheless she didn't say anything or didn't bother to ask. But he didn't want her getting anymore ideas in her head if she hadn't already.

She watched as he stood from the chair he was sitting in and walked over to her. She gave him a look of confusion when he had his body pressed against hers and wrapped his arms around her waist. She placed her hands on his chest and locked her confused eyes with his. "...Shadow?"

He rested his chin on her shoulder while he softly spoke to her. "You know it sucked being away from you for so long." He began to softly kiss her bare shoulder, "I missed you so fucking much."

She didn't understand what had suddenly gotten into him but with him caressing her lower body and having his lips working his way up to her neck, her negative thoughts began to fade away. With a small smile on her lips, she slightly clenched onto his shirt "I missed you too, Shad."

He took his lips from her neck and pressed his forehead against hers while he still held her body close to his. "Spike's still asleep right?"

A sly look formed on her face, "With the way things are going, probably not for too long."

"Heh, we'll be quiet. I just wanna spend time with you, babe", he spoke before he leaned in to softly kiss her lips.

While she returned his passionate kiss, she felt his hands still roaming around her lower waist. A small moan escaped her when she felt his fingers stroking her entrance through her pants.

The more he stroked her, he felt her entrance getting more and more heated and moist. He took his lips from hers and saw that she had a slight blush on her face. "Let's take this upstairs shall we?" He spoke in a low and seductive tone before he picked her body up from the floor and held her body in his arms.

She giggled softly and stroked her finger against his chest lightly, "Oh, Shad." She gently tugged on his shirt before she pulled him into another kiss before he began to escort her upstairs and towards the bedroom.

 **Author's Note: I know! I know! I've been slipping but I promise you guys updates will start happening a lot faster. I'm sorry if you guys were looking forward to a bomb but there won't be one for awhile. However, I am still planning on updating sooner and with that being said it'll be 2 or 3 chapters a week instead of it being 5 new chapters. I'm trying to move this story along a little bit more you know? Anyway hope you guys enjoyed the chapter and I'll see you guys in the next chapter tomorrow. See you on the flipside!**

 **In The Next Chapter...**

 **Ash: And you are?**

 **Sonic: Sonic! Sonic The Hedgehog! Nice to meet ya!**

 **Antoine: Really? And I actually thought Sally had good taste in men...**

 **Dax: I don't know. I think he's pretty cool!**

 **Luke: Scourge...I'll fucking kill him!**

 **Sonic: Sally, can I confess something to you?**

 **Sally: Huh?**

 **Tonya: Shadow and Sally friends? Sounds hard to believe if you ask me.**

 **Rouge: Shadow, what are you hiding from me?**


	3. Chapter 3

**CHAPTER 3**

It was early in the morning the next day at The Royal Guardians headquarters. As the week progressed, Sonic was still trying to get himself acquainted with the rest of the members of the Royal Guardians. The group was gathered in the main lobby while trying to learn more about each other.

Ash adjusted the red lens sunglasses he wore as he observed the blue hedgehog who stood before him and the rest of the group. He glanced him up and down. He truly didn't think too much of him even at first sight of him. He remembered the first day Sally brought him back to the agency with her. He came into the scene with quite a loud and cocky personality towards him. In all honesty, he wasn't very crazy about Sonic's arrival onto the team. "So you're from Acorn Kingdom huh?"

With his arms crossed, he proudly smiled towards the male yellow mongoose, "Yup sure am!"

Dax couldn't deny that he was very intrigued with Sonic. There was clearly something about him that made him stand out from the rest of them but he couldn't put his finger on it. He arched an eyebrow towards the hedgehog, "You must be pretty talented if Sally opened up a Field Mission Specialist position and recruited you so suddenly."

"I agree", Rotor even found it strange that Sally suddenly recruited Sonic to the team. For her, that was very out of character for her to do. He placed his hands in the pockets of his blue jeans and turned to the hedgehog, "The Chaotix is the only team that has Field Mission Specialists."

Sonic arched an eyebrow in curiosity. He didn't know that the Chaotix was the only team that had Field Mission Specialists. Now Sally's team was apparently the second team to acquire one? If anything, he could see why the rest of the members had strongly judged him. Perhaps they were skeptical about him because he was indeed dating Sally and it already caused the rest of the group to look at it as favoritism. "Really? Wow I must be something else huh?"

Antoine made a disgusted look towards him. He already clearly didn't like him. He came into the group with not only a cocky attitude but with the title of being Sally's boyfriend as well. "Don't get so full of yourself. The only reason you're here is because your Sally's new boy toy."

Like he feared, the group didn't like him and it was indeed over the fact that he was Sally's boyfriend. But he wanted to prove to them that it wasn't just that. It was because he carried other attributes and abilities that could help the team get the edge they needed to better themselves as a whole. He pointed over at the coyote, "Hey that's not all! I'm fast too you know?"

With all kinds of sudden thoughts running through his head, Dax bursted out in laughter.

Rotor narrowed his eyes over to the white lemur as he tried to figure out what had caused him to laugh. He paused for a moment and thought about what Sonic had said and realized why Dax had laughed. "...You are such a perv."

In annoyance, Antoine continued to still have a disgusted look on his face. He on the other hand didn't think the joke was very funny. "Pretty sure he didn't mean it like that", he spoke in a bitter tone. He paused and then turned to Ash who had a confused look on his face. "...Or did he?"

Sonic rolled his eyes and sighed heavily when he realized what he had loosely said towards the group. "Wha? No! Uh, just watch."

Before anyone could say anything else, they watched as Sonic ran from one end of the lobby and to the other in under a second it seemed.

He moved so fast, papers and empty paper coffee cups flew off of the surface of the front desk. Even the yellow cap Rotor wore on his head had flew off of him. The group tried to keep track of his body while he moved in lightning fast speed, but it was practically impossible. All they could see was a blue blur.

Afterwards, Sonic suddenly stopped in his tracks and stood back in front of the amazed group of detectives with a sly look on his face. "See? Fast."

With his cap still setting on the floor beside his feet, Rotor felt like he couldn't take his eyes away from the blue hedgehog. His mouth hung open as he stared at him. "...Oh...he's fast."

While Rotor picked his cap off of the floor and placed it back on his head, Dax made an excited look towards the blue hedgehog. "Wow! Amazing!"

Antoine found himself on the floor trying to pick up the papers that Sonic had blew off of the desk from him running so fast around the lobby. He made a bitter look as he stared at the hedgehog, "Yeah", he muttered. "Amazing at how much of a mess he makes..."

Ash even had to admit that his ability was pretty amazing. He had never seen anyone move that fast before. He could now clearly see why Sally figured he would be good for the team. He crossed his arms and tried to keep a calm composure on his face while on the inside, he was amazed by the hedgehog. "That was impressive, but it does take more than speed to get by here. With some training, you'll be a strong asset to the team in no time."

Ash still didn't think much of him but he praised him for his ability and it was a start on building his relationship with him. Sonic pointed towards the mongoose with a smirk on his face, "Okay and what exactly do I have to do to win your approval, Mr. Weapon's Expert?"

The yellow mongoose arched an eyebrow towards him when he heard him give him a nickname. "Do you even know how to fire a gun properly?" He watched as Sonic stood there with an unsure and blank look on his face while he heard him pause for a moment. With the reaction he got from him, he figured he never knew how to exactly fire a gun. "...Or at all?"

Sonic was still silent but this time he looked down and nervously fiddled with his fingers while he made a nervous laugh. "Uh kinda?"

While Ash slightly shook his head in disappoint, Rotor placed a hand on Ash's shoulder and turned to Sonic. "Don't worry, Sonic. Ash is the best Weapon Specialist there is! He'll teach you everything you need to know."

Ash sighed heavily and placed a hand on the side of his head. He knew adjusting to Sonic would take some time but there had to be something good from him if Sally recruited him. He had potential that he knew for certain. "I'll see what I can do..."

While the group of detectives continued to talk with Sonic, Sally and Nicole watched them all conversate from across the room. They stood beside each other at the doorway of the lobby.

A wide smile formed on Nicole's face as she watched the group talk with each other. It appeared that everyone was beginning to warm up to Sonic. "It looks like everyone is getting along." She turned to Sally who stood next to her, "I can't believe you were worried."

Sally turned to her with an uneasy look on her face while she placed a finger under her chin. "Hey can you blame me? You know they're a group of assholes. Especially Ash and Antoine." She knew out of everyone in the group Ash and Antoine always were the two that came off harsh and blunt to almost anyone they'd meet. They weren't exactly as open minded as Dax and Rotor.

Nicole knew that the group would be a little hesitant to open up to Sonic but she figured in time they would all get along fine. "I think Sonic's gonna fit in just fine." She began to walk over to the group until she stopped in her tracks and turned back to Sally. "Hey, Sally?"

She noticed her turning back to look towards her once again. With her ears perked up, she gave her her full attention.

A sudden warm and happy look had formed on her face, "I'm glad he's here."

Sally slightly tilted her head to the side in confusion. She wondered what she had meant by that. "Why is that?"

"Because I've never seen you so happy." It was true. Even though Sally was her best friend, towards others she always came off with a bossy and cold hearted personality. However, ever since she came back from Kingdom of Acorn with Sonic, she was definitely more calmer and nicer towards everyone.

After hearing that coming from her, she made a wide and warm smile in return. She then decided to walk along with Nicole to conversate with the rest of the group of detectives.

Meanwhile at The Black Shield headquarters, Luke was sitting at the front desk in the lobby with the group of detectives surrounding him with relieved looks on their faces. It was his first day back at work after his incident with Scourge.

Mina placed a hand over her chest and sighed happily, "Thank God you're back, Luke. We missed you."

Aaron slowly turned to her with a grimaced look on his face while he pointed towards himself. "Uh, we?"

Sonia giggled and placed her hands on her hips, "I for one enjoyed the peace and quiet."

Aaron made a sly look and turned to Luke, "Don't mind her. You know she missed the hell out of you."

A slight blush formed on the pink hedgehog's face as Aaron teased her. "Ugh! Whatever!" She flashed her eyes away from him and crossed her arms. She wouldn't admit it but she did miss Luke being at the agency. It was far from it being how it normally was within the agency and that was always loud and hectic. But she was used to that kind of that atmosphere.

Dave slightly leaned against the desk and formed a small smile towards Luke. "Despite how everyone feels about your return, I'm glad to have you back, boss man." He was relieved out of everyone else. He absolutely hated it when Luke wasn't present. It seemed Luke was the only one to calm the group down when they had gotten out of control.

"Yeah", Mina agreed. "You did get out of the hospital rather quick."

Luke placed his foot up on the surface of the desk and crossed his arms in annoyance. "And I couldn't get out there any faster. I practically begged for them to get me out of there."

Aaron arched an eyebrow towards him and wondered why he wanted to leave the hospital so badly. "The hospital food wasn't that bad was it?"

He slightly shook his head, "No way. It was my fucking bitch of an ex wife constantly going at it with Nicole." He remembered that Lori had visited him at the hospital with Ariana to solely run into Nicole just to pick with her. He never understood why Lori was apparently jealous over Nicole. He really thought that she was over him. Apparently not.

Dave placed a finger to his chin as he remembered that Luke told him beforehand that Lori came to see him. "You did mention that Lori came to visit you a few times."

He lowly scoffed under his breath, "And that was enough. I swear it was like a cage match in there."

Sonia let out a small laugh and thought it was hilarious that both Nicole and Lori were fighting each other to see who could make who jealous. "Note to self. Don't ever have your ex wife in the same room as your girlfriend."

Aaron made a sly look towards Sonia and lowly spoke over to her, "I bet the holidays are rough too."

Dave wanted to drop the drama between Luke, Lori, and Nicole and just focus on him just being back at work. "On a serious note, we're all just glad that Scourge didn't plan on completely killing you." He was still surprised that Scourge didn't kill Luke when he had the chance. He wondered what really held him back from doing so.

"Scourge...", Luke spoke in a low and angry tone. "When I see that walking snot again..." He stood from the desk chair he sat in and slammed his fist down onto the surface of the desk. "I'll fucking kill him!"

Mina was slightly startled when she heard his fist bang onto the surface of the desk. She hated to see him so angry. She had to admit to herself that seeing Luke remotely angry had kind of frightened her. He was always so calm and nice towards her but rather rash and blunt when it came to anyone else. A sweat drop formed on the side of her head as she waved her hands slightly downwards. "Calm down, Luke. You're still recovering."

He knew out of everyone else, Mina was the most concerned for him. It was just in her nature to always put others first. She was the least selfish of the team and she always showed it. In annoyance, he turned away from her and crossed his arms, "I'm fine. Stop worrying."

Dave placed a hand on the side of his head and scratched it as he sighed heavily after witnessing Luke's sudden outburst. Even he had to admit that he was worried for him. He knew Scourge would come for him again and maybe the next time, he would finish the job. He just feared for Luke's safety especially after having such a close call. "Yeah that's what you always say..."

It was later in the afternoon and Sally and Sonic arrived back at her house after a long day of work. Sonic stepped inside of the bedroom with her following behind him.

Sally closed the door behind them and turned to Sonic who was tiredly stretching out his arms while he stepped into the room.

He continued to stretch out his arms and yawned, "Man! What a day!" Sonic glanced around the fairly large bedroom. She had a few things that stood out within the room. She had a large king sized bed with white and light blue sheets and blankets and a nice light blue vanity that set in the far corner of the room. She even had a balcony that allowed her to step outside whenever she pleased. He had to admit that her bedroom had reminded him a little of her old one back in Acorn Kingdom. It fit her royal status perfectly. He spun around to turn to her, "Hey, Sal? Have I ever mentioned you live like a princess even here?"

A soft giggle escaped her as she crossed her arms and gave him a sly look. "Hey I did come from royalty you know?" Even though she definitely considered herself an every day working individual, she never was the type to brag about how much she had.

"Heh, I guess I can't expect anything less from you", he watched as she walked towards the large bed and sat on it to rest. "By the way, Ash is a pretty good teacher. He's taught me a lot in such a short amount of time."

She made a small nod as she agreed with him, "What can I say? Ash is the best of the best."

When he saw her suddenly laying her entire body down on the bed, he figured something was wrong but she seemed completely fine. Perhaps she was just tired. He decided to walk over to the bed and lay beside her on the bed. He rested his head on one of the white fluffy pillows and turned to her. "You okay, Sal?"

With her eyes closed, she made a slight nod along with a small smile on her lips. "Um hm. Just a little tired." Her hand searched for his until she felt him gently holding her hand in his.

Like he figured, she was just tired. She barely had any time off since she arrived back from Kingdom of Acorn. No wonder she was still pretty exhausted. "I can kinda see why. All of that detective work can take a lot out of you." While she made another nod, he continued to hold her hand securely in his. He took his eyes away from her and looked up at the white ceiling above them. "You know when I first met Nicole and the rest of the gang, I was pretty nervous."

"Why is that?" She asked with her eyes still closed.

He slightly shrugged his shoulders, "They're an elite group of demon hunters and I'm just a simple guy who loves a little adventure every once and a while. I'm not exactly experienced with this kind of thing you know?"

She opened her eyes and turned her head to face him. "I know, hun. I can kind of imagine how you felt when you met them for the first time."

He looked back at her with a small smirk on his face, "And Ash isn't exactly very warm welcoming to new comers I've noticed."

She knew that Ash had always been a little rash. Even since the day she met him, but he would eventually start to warm up to people. He was never like that all the time. However he did have his days. "Ash is just being Ash. Don't take anything he says to you personally."

A small laugh had escaped him, "Ash almost kinda reminds me of Shadow. He wasn't very fond of me at first either as I recall."

She couldn't help but to feel strange when he brought up Shadow's name. She had wondered what had made him bring him up and so suddenly. Just hearing his name made her nervous and slightly advert her eyes away from him. "...Yeah he wasn't very open to you at first sight either." When she directed her eyes back towards him, he saw her giving her a concerned look.

"Hey, Sal, I know you already explained it all to me but the deal with Shadow..."

Her heart skipped a beat as she heard him about to ask a question involving Shadow. What was he going to ask her?

His green eyes slowly shifted downwards as it appeared that he was deep in thought. "...If he drinks another demon's blood, he becomes evil or something right?"

"Oh um...something like that." Well it wasn't the question that she was expecting out of him but it still made her nervous. She never didn't want the two of them to not get along. They were already on good terms. She didn't want Sonic to become cautious of him just as the others did from the Council and other detective teams. She slightly tightened her grip while she held his hand, "But that won't ever happen. You gotta remember Shadow's a pretty tough guy. He'll dish out whatever The Dark Alliance throws at him."

Sonic didn't want to think that Shadow was a threat to him or to anyone else. Despite his rough attitude at times, he clearly cares about his family and teammates. He couldn't see him becoming their enemy. He made a small nod, "Yeah for sure." He had then turned away from her and looked back up at the white ceiling as more thoughts came rushing into his head. They was a moment of silence between the two until he spoke again. "...Hey Sally, can I confess something to you?"

She directed her attention back at him while he looked up at the ceiling while appearing deep in thought.

"It's funny looking back at it now but when I first saw you back in Acorn Kingdom with Shadow, I'll admit I was pretty jealous."

Sonic was jealous of Shadow? She didn't have a clue. Whatever bitter attitude he had towards him, he had played it off in front of her and everyone else so smoothly. She arched an eyebrow towards him, "What? Why?"

He slightly shrugged his shoulders as he continued to look up at the ceiling, "I don't know. Because he was another hedgehog I suppose?" He knew exactly what it was that made him jealous. It was the simple fact that she came back to the kingdom after all that time and with another hedgehog. It didn't make things better when he first caught sight of her holding him in her arms while he was injured from trying to protect her.

Sally was in complete and utter shock. What had made Sonic say all of these things all of a sudden? Did he know about what happened between her and Shadow? Perhaps Shadow mentioned something about it to him while the two were trying to form some type of friendship. But that was hard to believe. She didn't think Shadow would say something like that so loosely to Sonic especially with him knowing that Sonic was her ex boyfriend at that time.

"And you two seemed like you really cared for each other when Hao attacked you guys." He made a small yet sarcastic laugh under his breath while he took his other hand and placed it on his forehead, "I just knew you guys were screwing each other." He slightly shook his head, "But when Shadow encouraged you to make me your Field Mission Specialist to help your team and to be with you, I knew that wasn't the case and it was just made up bullshit in my head. And he's married too. Duh!" He turned back to Sally with a wide smile on his face while his grip around her hand had slightly tightened. "You should be lucky to have a great friend like Shadow that thinks about your happiness." Another small laugh had slipped from him, "I mean hey he's a little rough around the edges and I've only known him for short time but I think he's a pretty cool guy."

Looking back and analyzing everything that took place between her and Shadow, there were tons of assumptions that filled her mind. Maybe Shadow did have strong feelings for her but still went out of his way to make sure that she and Sonic stayed together. The entire situation was still confusing for her. She loved Sonic that was for sure but she figured she may never get the exact answers on why Shadow did what he did for the both of them. She shook out of her thoughts and made a small nod, "Yes he sure is." She then saw him suddenly placing his body on top of hers and locking his eyes with hers with his face just inches from hers. "S-Sonic?"

The blue hedgehog leaned in close to her and had a seductive look in his eyes. "So", he began. "How tired are you exactly?"

With a slight look of confusion on her face, she wondered what made Sonic cling to her so suddenly. She knew Sonic's personality was more carefree and independent but she never minded it. He still had his moments when he would start showing his affection towards her. She saw him leaning forward until his lips had started to soft kiss her neck. A soft giggle escaped her as her hands began to travel down his back, "I'm never too tired for you, Blue."

"Heh, good", he took his lips from her neck and pressed them against her lips. While the two were engaged in a passionate kiss, his hands traveled around her chest. He pulled down on her black sleeveless halter top and began to massage her breasts gently. He took his lips from hers and kissed the side of her forehead while he whispered to her, "I love you, Sally."

"I love you too, Sonic", her eyes gazed into his before she tugged on the collar of his green shirt and pulled him into another heated kiss.

Later it was late in the evening and the sun was setting in the orange sky within Tech City. The part of town they were walking through wasn't very busy. Not many people were out and about. Tonya was walking with Rouge down the sidewalk on their way from work. Rouge was telling her of what was going on with Shadow and Sally's relationship.

"Wha?" Tonya practically shouted in an unbelievable tone while she turned to her with an arched eyebrow. "Shadow and Sally? Friends?"

Rouge calmly made a nod as she witnessed Tonya's shocked reaction. "Yup that's what he told me."

"Wow this is shocking", she spoke while she crossed her arms. "Though it is pretty hard to believe especially after when Sally's hated Shadow for so long. And suddenly the two just called a truce?" Even hearing it coming from Rouge's mouth, she still want to believe that Shadow and Sally had put their differences behind them.

"Well", Rouge spoke while she turned away from her to slightly look upwards. "The two were sent out on a mission together for damn near a month. I guess they had no choice but to get along you know?" She would think if anyone had to spend that much time together, they would have to get along.

Tonya placed a finger to her chin and slightly shifted her eyes away from her as she thought about the situation. "Hmm...together...on a mission...alone..."

Just by hearing the tone of her voice, she knew that what was exactly going through Tonya's mind. She narrowed her eyes over at the purple cat, "Don't you dare..."

The cat woman made an uneasy look and shrugged her shoulders, "Hey! I didn't say it! Only..."

"Implying it", Rouge finished in a bitter tone. Was this all some kind of sign? It was already bad enough that the thought of Shadow cheating crossed her mind and now Tonya was thinking the same. It couldn't have been much of a coincidence if they were both thinking it. Right?

She didn't want to upset Rouge at the least but she had to speak what was on her mind. With how everything sounded, it was just strange to believe. She sighed heavily, "Look I'm not trying to call Shadow out as a cheater or anything. It just sounds weird you know? You can't tell me the thought hasn't crossed your mind when he told you that he and Sally made up?"

Well she got her there. She had thought about it. No matter how hard she tried shaking the feeling off, the thought was always lingering in her mind. She bit her lip slightly, "...Well...yes but I know Shadow. He wouldn't do anything like that. I trust him, Tonya."

She made a nod. She like Rouge wanted to believe that Shadow wasn't that type of guy. Shadow was always very upfront and spoke how he felt. She couldn't imagine him trying to hide anything as serious as that from Rouge. "You know I don't believe Shadow would do such a thing either. It's not like him. Besides we all know how Sally is. I can't believe anyone would want to fuck her. Not with the stone cold attitude she has", she spoke in bitter tone.

Rouge slightly shrugged her shoulders and couldn't help but to disagree with her. "I don't know. Ever since she and Shadow came back from Acorn Kingdom, she's been acting pretty mellow." She never spoke to Sally very much but she did recall her previously always arguing and being at her upmost foulest especially when it came to Shadow. However, she did seem a lot more calmer when she returned from the mission.

Tonya had given her a teasing look, "Maybe because she's finally getting dick from her new boyfriend."

"Heh, yeah." Another thing was that Sally did come back with Sonic as her boyfriend. It wouldn't make sense if Shadow and Sally did have an affair, why would did she come back with Sonic? Maybe she was overthinking everything too much. She broke out of her thoughts when Tonya called out to her.

"Hey, Rouge?"

"Hm?"

She formed a small and warm smile towards her, "I know Shad isn't like husband of the year or anything but don't ever think he would do something like that to hurt you. All those negative thoughts about Sally and junk. Just ignore the hell out of them." She pointed her finger towards her, "Because you know at the end of the day, he's coming home and sleeping next to you."

She was right. No matter how crazy as it sounded. Shadow and Sally were on good terms and nothing happened between the two. She was happy with Shadow and Sally was happy with Sonic. And that was that. She made a nod towards her, "You're right. Thanks, Ton." She stood in front of her and decided to end their walk together. "Anyway, I'll see you tomorrow. I gotta pick up Spike from Tikal since Shad's working late tonight."

Tonya nodded and waved towards her, "Okay Rouge, see you tomorrow!"

She waved back to her, "Bye!" When she saw her turn away from her and started walking in the opposite direction, so did she. As she continued to walk down the sidewalk, she was about to pass by a dark alley until she heard a low crying and a child's voice calling out

"Help me...", the voice had spoken.

She froze in her tracks and slowly turned her head to look into the dark alley. She thought she was just hearing things until she heard the voice call out again.

"Help me please", the voice begged weak and desperately.

This time she was certain she wasn't hearing things. It was indeed the voice of a child and he appeared to be in some need of help. She slowly yet cautiously made her way into the deep and dark alley. The alley seemed like it was never ending and she could barely see anything because it was practically pitch dark. She froze in her tracks when she saw a small shadowy figure swiftly making its way around the dark alley. She figured it was the child who was calling out to her. "Is...is anyone there?" While she began to glance around her, she was suddenly grabbed around her neck from behind. Before she had the chance to struggle, a white cloth was pressed over her mouth. The more she had tried to fight it away from her and struggle, the more she began to get dizzy and faint. When she could no longer fight it, she helplessly collapsed to the ground. While she laid on the ground, she found herself slowly going unconscious. The last thing she saw was a small black figure standing over her body with red eyes and a menacing smile on his face. Before she could make out the mysterious figure, everything had went black.

 **Author's Note: Hey, guys! Just wanted to say a quick thank you to those who have been showing this story the utmost support ever since the story has been launched! I know it's moving rather slowly but everything is coming together. Also! I posted a poll up on my profile page! Would you guys rather for me to post 1 or 2 chapters a week? Or! Post 5 new chapters for every day of that week? I wanna here from you guys! So if you can, please vote on which you guys prefer the most!**

 **And also! Next week! On 11/6 and 11/7 chapters 4 and 5 will be posted! So sit tight! Also Happy Halloween! Have fun, be smart, and stay safe wherever you all are and may be! And with that being said, I will see you guys next week! See you on the flipside!**

 **In The Next Chapter...**

 **Tikal: Shadow, what's wrong?**

 **Shadow: It's Rouge. She never came home...**

 **Tikal: Rouge is missing?**

 **Espio: What could've happened to her?**

 **Shadow: I won't rest until I find my wife...**

 **Rouge: Wh-who are you?**

 **Devil: My name is Devil...**


	4. Chapter 4

**CHAPTER 4**

It was getting later on in the evening and it had finally gotten dark within Tech City. With him finally getting off of work, Shadow stepped into the dark and quiet kitchen of his home and tossed his keys onto the white kitchen counter. He felt around the wall until he found the light switch to turn on the lights to light up the kitchen. While making a small yawn, he tiredly stretched out his arms and walked further into the kitchen. "What a day", he murmured tiredly. His eyes glanced around the rest of the dark house. He couldn't put his finger on it but something just didn't feel right. The house was quiet. Too quiet and barely anything had been touched. There was no sign of dinner being made and the same half empty mugs of coffee were left on the counter from that morning. It was like no one was there. "...Rouge?" He called out just enough for his voice to carry around downstairs. He paused for a moment but he didn't hear a reply. He thought maybe she was already upstairs and in bed. He decided to go to check upstairs.

When he walked up the stairs, he walked through the dark and eerie hallway and made his way towards the bedroom. He placed his hand on the doorknob of the closed door and slowly opened it. He peeked his head inside of dark room and turned on the light switch that was near him. Once the room was lit up, he directed his attention towards the bed that was still made up from that morning. She clearly wasn't in the bedroom. Maybe she was in Spike's room. He turned off the light and shut the door before he made his way towards Spike's room. Once he stepped inside of the room, the room was dark just as the other rooms he had been in. He flipped on the light switch and stepped into the seemingly empty room. He stood in the center of the room and placed a finger under his chin and slightly scanned around the child's room. 'She's not here either...' His eyes then caught sight of the baby crib that was set in front of him. He walked over to the crib and looked down in it only to find that Spike wasn't even sleeping in his crib. 'And neither is Spike...' He began to become worried. What was going on? Rouge should've been back by now but she wasn't anywhere within the house.

He eyed the brown rocking chair that was setting beside the crib and walked over to it to sit down in it. He decided that maybe he should call her to see if everything was okay. He took out the cell phone from the pocket of his black jeans and began to dial the number to her cell phone. He placed the phone against his ear and began to listen to the dial tones. The first attempt, the phone kepting ringing and ringing until it went to voicemail. With a sigh he ended the call and tried to call her once again. The phone rang over and over until it went to voicemail again. He ended the call and stared down at his phone in worry. "What the hell is going on?" He paused for a moment and thought that maybe he should call Tikal to see if she ever made it to Nails' apartment. He started to dial the number to Tikal's cell phone and then placed the phone against his ear. He heard the phone ringing a few times until Tikal had finally answered.

"Hello?" She answered with a concerned tone in her voice.

He was slightly relieved to even hear Tikal's voice. Maybe now he would get the answers that he needed. "Tikal? It's Shadow."

"Oh hey, Shadow. What's up?"

"Hey did Rouge ever stop by to pick up Spike from you?"

"Um, no. She never came by..."

"What?" He stood from the rocking chair and stood there with an unbelievable look on his face. Now he definitely knew something was wrong.

She continued to speak, "I figured she either stayed late like you did or maybe she wanted you to pick him up instead. I texted her to see what was going on but she never replied back to me...is something going on?"

He tried to stray away from the thoughts on what could've happened to Rouge and focused his attention back to Tikal. "Rouge never came home. I even tried calling her and I didn't hear anything back from her.

She made a small gasp that was full of worry, "What? Oh no...I hope she's okay."

He wondered who was the last person she was with and the image of Tonya had popped up in his mind. "...She left earlier with Tonya. I'll see if I can get any information from her."

"Okay fill me in on everything if you find anything out."

"I'll be sure to update you on what's going on when I stop by to get Spike."

"Okay Shadow, I'll see you then."

When he ended the call with Tikal, he looked away from the phone and set it beside him while he stood there deep in thought. He snapped out of his thoughts and began to dial the number to Tonya's cell phone. 'Rouge...please be okay...'

Later at Espio and Tonya's house, Ker was sitting at the kitchen table with a plate full of pancakes sitting in front of him.

Espio who sat across from him rested his head on his hand while he watched him stab his fork into the stack of pancakes that were covered in syrup. He rose an eyebrow when he started to hungrily eat one of the pancakes.

As he ate the pancakes, he had a satisfied look on his face. "So good!" He slightly paused when he saw Tonya approach him and place another plate in front of him with more pancakes on it. In happiness, he looked up at her with his mouth still stuffed. "Man I love pancakes! I don't think I'll ever get tired of them!"

Tonya giggled softly when she noticed that he was enjoying the pancakes she had made for him. "Well it's good to know that they're still your favorite food." She slightly began to remember back when Ker had decided to join The Chaotix. It was a little after then that he started to love pancakes and he always insisted on having them for his main course meals.

Espio appeared to have an annoyed look on his face while he watched Ker eat more from the stack of pancakes. "You know I really don't know how you eat fucking pancakes every breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Don't you ever get tired of it?" He saw hm taking his fork and pointed it towards him while having a sly look on his face.

A teasing smile formed on his lips, "Hey would you rather me eat brains or pancakes?"

He paused for a moment and could definitely recall when Ker wasn't on their side and had to keep telling himself that Ker was still a full fledged demon. It still sent small shivers down his spine as he pictured him slaughtering innocent people in his past life. But that was so long ago and Ker had changed. He was no longer a hateful and bloodthirsty demon. He was as gentle as a small kitten and was more full of love than most people he had met in his lifetime. "...Let there be pancakes."

With still a teasing look on his face, he stuffed another pancake into his mouth. "Heh that's what I thought!"

Tonya smiled warmly at the two until she heard the doorbell ring. She looked over at the door and wondered who was at their door at that time of night. She began to slowly walk over to the door, "I'll get it." When she opened the door, she saw Shadow standing at the doorway with a dark blue diaper bag hanging off of his shoulders and held Spike in his arms who was wrapped in a white blanket. Beside him, Tikal stood there with a worried look on her face. "Shadow? Tikal?"

Once Espio and Ker heard Tonya call out their names, they both rushed into the living room to meet with them. He saw Shadow's worried expression and knew what was happening. Tonya had told him and Ker the situation about Rouge going missing. He had hoped that Shadow would have found her but judging by how he had looked, it was clear that he still didn't find anything out. "Shadow."

He stepped inside of the house with Tikal standing beside him. "Espio..." Before he could tell him what was happening he heard him speak up.

"I know. Tonya told me everything. Still no luck?"

"Nothing", he spoke in a low and hopeless tone. He saw Tonya extended her arms out to him.

"Here give Spike to me." She watched him make a nod and carefully handed over the baby hedgehog to her.

While she held Spike in her arms, she looked down and saw that he slightly moved his small hands while he continued to sleep peacefully while he was securely wrapped in the soft white blanket.

He placed the diaper bag he had over his shoulder and placed it on the floor beside him before turning back to Espio, "It's like she just disappeared into thin air. Espio, I don't know what to do."

He hated seeing Shadow so stressed and worried. He could only imagine what was running through his head but he tried to stay optimistic and hopeful for his sake. He reached out and placed his hand on his shoulder. "Hey it's gonna be okay. We'll help you find her." He took his hand away from him and spun around to Tonya who was slightly craddling Spike in her arms. "Hey hun, you mind watching after Spike while Ker, Tikal, and I help Shadow look around?"

She made a nod while she continued to cradle the sleeping child she had held. "Of course. Just be careful and good luck." She saw them make an assured nod and watched as they rushed out of the house and started on their way to look for Rouge.

Meanwhile, Rouge had slowly opened her eyes and found herself in a small and dark grim looking room. The lighting within the room was very dim. Her eyes scanned around and took note of dark blue carpet below her feet that was absolutely filthy looking. It even looked like it was stained with blood. She continued to look around and there were even a few toys that were scattered around the floor. She glanced up at the gray walls around her and saw a few child like drawings hanging on them. She figured she was in some kind of children's playroom or what it used to be. Whatever kind of place she was in, the room had reeked of death. When she tried to move her body, she couldn't. Her hands and feet were chained to the metal chair she was sitting in. Before she made more of an effort to try to break free, a calming yet eerie male's voice was heard.

"So you're finally awake..."

Her eyes flashed over to where the voice had came from. It almost sounded like the voice she had heard before she passed out. She looked towards the dark doorway until she saw a small and dark figure slowly approaching her from the darkness. When the figure stepped into the light, her eyes fell upon a little white rabbit boy who stood in front of her while his hands were behind his back. "Rouge The Bat, so we finally meet face to face."

Just by looking at him, she could tell right off the bat that there was something strange about the little boy. "...Who are you?" As she continued to observe him, her eyes caught sight of his red eyes and fangs that flashed within his small yet evil smirk. Now she knew why he came off as so strange to her. He was a demon.

He calmly bowed in front of her, "My name is Devil." He looked back up towards her to observe her cautious expression. "Perhaps you've heard of my sister?"

She didn't realize it at first but he had looked awfully similar to the young girl that she had recently encountered. She looked closer and knew that he had definitely resembled Angel. He looked like the male version of her. They both even appeared to be around the same age. "...You're Angel's brother aren't you?"

"Heh, lucky guess." His eyes wandered down at her trying to move her wrists that were chained to the chair. He knew that she was struggling to get free. He pointed towards the chains that were holding her to the chair. "I know you can easily escape and break those chains free with that fancy battle suit you're wearing."

She was surprised that he knew about her gunsuit but then again if he was Angel's sibling, she probably told him about her suit.

"You can try to escape but it wouldn't be wise. You won't make it out of here. Just so you know."

She knew he was right. If he was anything like Angel, he was strong. Even if she did break free, she would get caught in a fight with him. But even if she won, she didn't have a clue what was beyond the door he came out of. Who knows what other demons she would encounter. She would easily get cornered and that would be the end of that.

He crossed his arms and continued to study her appearance. "I honestly didn't think I could take you down. But it was pretty easy once I caught you off guard and attacked you from behind."

He obviously didn't injure her but she did remember that she was getting dizzy and everything went black afterwards. "...What did you do to me?"

He shrugged his shoulders carelessly, "Nothing special really." A small smirk formed on his lips, "Chloroform. It's an old trick but hey it worked like a charm."

He obviously didn't have the intention of just killing her if he captured her and brought her to whatever place they were in. "What do you want with me? Are you going to kill me?"

He arched an eyebrow and made an amused and evil chuckle. "Oh no. If that was the case then you'd already be dead."

It was true. He obviously wanted her alive for something. But for what? "...So what do you want?"

He took a step closer towards her, "Lord Dark's been wanting to get his hands on Shadow for awhile but he was just using...irrational approaches." He slowly extended his hand out towards her and began to gently caress the side of her face. "No one is closer to Shadow none other than his dear wife."

"Get your hands off of me!" The more he had touched her, the more she had gotten more furious about the situation. "If you wanna kill me then just do it already!"

He took his hand away from the side of her face and made a small laugh under his breath. "I don't want to kill you. I have..." He flashed his fangs as he formed an evil smirk, "Other uses for you..."

She flinched when she saw him suddenly reaching down towards her leg to take a small knife from her black holster. Her eyes caught sight of him casually running his finger through the sharp blade of the knife. She then saw him take the blade of the knife and sliced it through his wrist. Her heart raced inside of her chest. She realized what was happening. He was planning to turn her and some way use her to get to Shadow to do the same. She stared at the blood oozing from his wrist and dripping on the floor "...No..." At this point, she didn't care about him killing her. Anything was better than using her to turn Shadow against everyone.

When he saw her about to make another attempt to break free of the chains, he took his hand and made her look upwards by grabbing her neck. "Don't resist. Be calm and take this power..."

When he placed his bloody wrist onto her mouth, she absolutely refused to open her mouth. When she felt him grabbing her neck tighter, she couldn't help but to open her mouth and open she did she tasted his blood slipping into her mouth.

He licked his lips slowly as he continued to place his bloody wrist onto her mouth, "That's it...swallow it..." His eyes traveled down and watched as she gulped down some of the blood. Once he saw her swallow some of the blood, he let go of her neck and back away. With his arms crossed, he slightly tilted his head as he watched her trying to spit out some of blood from her mouth. He heard her coughing and panting heavily. "...How do you feel, Rouge?" He saw her pause and then slowly look back up towards him with blood running down her chin and her eyes no longer an aqua green color but now blood red.

 **Author's Note: Sorry for the short chapter, guys! Next one will be longer! Get ready! Shit's gonna get lit in the next chapter! Hope you guys enjoyed this one! R &R please!**

 **In The Next Chapter...**

 **Charmy: Is that a...demon?**

 **Shadow:...Rouge?**

 **Rouge: Not wanting to fight is a big mistake, sweetie...**

 **Espio: That blood...it's not Shadow's...**

 **Freya: What's happening? Boss...**


	5. Chapter 5

**CHAPTER 5**

Later on, Tonya was sitting on the white sofa in her living room while holding Spike in her arms. She had an uneasy look on her face as the baby hedgehog cried loudly. He had been asleep for most of the time he was with her but he had suddenly woken from his sleep and now he was crying. She cradled him in her arms and hushed him to try to calm him down. "Hey, hey come on, Spike. It's gonna be okay." She didn't know what was upsetting him. Maybe he had missed the comfort of his parents. "Daddy will be back soon." She continued to cradle him in her arms and nothing seemed to be working. She then eyed the dark blue diaper bag that was set on the floor near her. She reached down and took out a bottle that was half full of milk. She lowered the nip of the bottle near his mouth until he began to hungrily drink from the bottle. When she heard nothing but Spike drinking from the bottle, she leaned against the back of the sofa and sighed in relief. "Thank God. He was just hungry." She looked down and watched as Spike drank from the bottle she had held up for him. A small smile formed on her lips, 'He's so cute when he's actually asleep or just being quiet.' Her smile slowly faded, 'Poor, Spike. Maybe he's worried about Rouge too.' Her eyes shifted away from him and murmured under her breath, "I hope they find her..." Her ears perked up when the door had suddenly opened. She directed her attention towards the doorway and saw Espio stepping inside along with Shadow, Ker, and Tikal. When she didn't see Rouge with them, she figured that they still didn't have any luck finding her. She slowly stood from the sofa and walked towards them while continuing to feed Spike. "Nothing?"

Espio slowly shook his head, "Nothing..."

She didn't want to look hopeless but if no one had a clue where she was then what happened to her? "Oh no..." When she heard a frustrated sigh coming from Shadow, she looked over to him to see him rubbing the side of his head with his hand.

"This doesn't make any fucking sense. Where in the hell could she be? What if she's hurt or worse?"

Espio knew Shadow was clearly upset and he felt just as lost as he was. But he tried to be positive about the dark situation. He didn't want to say anything negative to worry Shadow even more than he already was. "Hey don't think like that. She was wearing the gunsuit when she disappeared remember? She can take care of herself. I know she's okay."

He made a nod. It was true. Rouge wasn't the typical damsel in distress types. She was not only a skilled weapon's expert but a strong fighter as well. If she was in any trouble, he had to believe that she was still alive. He watched as Tonya walked over to him.

"She'll be okay, Shadow. You gotta have faith in her." Once Spike was again asleep in her arms, she took the bottle away from his mouth slowly and handed the sleeping child over to Shadow. "Be strong, Shadow. For you and Spike."

He looked down at Spike who was sleeping peacefully in his arms and then back at her. "Yes you're right."

Ker made a nod towards him, "Go home and try to get some rest."

"Yeah", Espio agreed. "It's late and we're all exhausted. We'll sort this mess out more in the morning."

Everyone agreed that they were all just tired and worried and couldn't think clearly of the next step to do. Getting rest would be the best thing for all of them at the moment.

Deep down, Shadow didn't want to rest. He just knew Rouge was still out there and she needed help. But the group was right. He along with the rest of them were far too tired to even think straight. He knew rest was the best option for everyone right now. "Right. I'll see you guys then..."

The next morning came quickly it seemed. Shadow had only gotten a few hours of sleep and he slept terribly within the few hours he did sleep. Half of the time, he was trying to calm and comfort Spike. His relationship with Spike wasn't the best. With him always working and being away, Spike rarely even saw Shadow. If anything, with Rouge being away for so long, he had realized that he spends little to no time with his son. When he arrived at the Chaotix, he stepped inside to find the rest of the group huddled at the front desk having their attention on Espio.

When Espio turned to the black and red hedgehog, he saw how awful he had looked. He figured he didn't get much rest and he couldn't blame him. He knew he was an absolute wreck with him not knowing where Rouge was. "Shadow, there you are. Did you sleep well?"

He slowly shook his head as he approached him while scuffing his feet on the floor, "Not really..."

Midnight saw how awful Shadow looked and had to admit that he hadn't seen him look this bad since he had his last severe breakdown which happened a little well over a year ago. "Espio, filled us in on what happened."

Freya always saw Shadow getting aggravated and stressed out but she absolutely hated seeing him like this. "I can't believe Miss Rouge is gone..."

Appex placed his hands in his pants pockets and shifted his eyes away from him. With how Espio had explained to him and the rest of the group, he knew something bad happened to her. "Something happened that's for sure."

Espio took a step forward towards Shadow. "I already informed Sarah and the rest of the Council." He placed a finger under his chin and shifted his eyes downwards, "I would let Bunnie and the rest of the TCPD know too but..." His eyes shifted back to Shadow, "I figured if you haven't already then I wouldn't bother." He didn't think Shadow took it as far as to report to the police about Rouge's disappearance. He felt like it was a detective matter but all in all it was still Shadow's decision.

He was right. He didn't inform the police. He felt the situation was more of a personal matter rather than anything. He made a nod towards Espio, "As of right now this is nothing but the business of us and The Council. The TCPD will be a last resort if we can't handle this ourselves."

Charmy rose an eyebrow in confusion. If Shadow didn't want the police involved then what did he have planned to help find Rouge? "So what do we do?" He and the rest of the group watched him walk over to a map that was hanging on the wall behind the front desk. The map showed a more in depth area around Tech City.

He took a red marker off from the desk and started to circle around the areas where Rouge might be. "Tonight we'll search more around the east district area of the city." He turned to the ground and pointed the tip of the red marker towards the areas he had circled. "She was last scene in these parts of the city. Maybe we can find some clues that will help lead us to her."

Espio made a small nod and crossed his arms. It was the same areas they had searched last night but even he thought that perhaps they were overlooking something. "Sounds like a plan."

Freya nodded and gave Shadow an assured look, "Don't worry, boss. We'll find her."

Shadow had made a slow nod back towards her, "I hope you're right..."

It was later that night and most of the streets were deserted because it was so late. Barely anything was heard. It was almost completely silent. Freya, Espio, and Charmy walked alongside Shadow with all tired expressions. They had been searching for most of the night and still haven't found any trace of Rouge anywhere. It was getting later and everyone was just about exhausted.

Charmy took notice of Freya who had just yawned. "Hey you okay?"

She stretched out her arms tiredly and turned to him who had a concerned look on his face. "I'm fine. Just a little tired."

Espio saw how exhausted everyone was and turned to Shadow who didn't look any better than the rest of them. "We've been at this for hours and still haven't found anything. You wanna call it a night?"

Shadow stopped in his tracks and spun around to him with an aggravated expression on his face. "What? But we can't give up now. Rouge is still out here. I know she is..."

He slightly bit his lip and knew Shadow as getting more and more set on finding Rouge. He wanted to find her more than anything else as well but at this point, he realized that Shadow was beginning to obsess over it. He thought if it was even worth a shot trying to convince him to simply stop with the search and just hand over the matter to the police. As of right then, nothing was getting the closer to finding her. "Shadow..." Before he could say anymore, he saw Shadow turning away from him and looking up at a tall corporate building that was near them. It appeared that something had caught his attention. "...Shad? What's up?"

Shadow took a step forward towards the building and focused his attention up towards the roof. "I sense something..."

Charmy didn't have a clue what was happening. What had suddenly caught Shadow off guard? "Huh?"

He slightly gritted his teeth as he stared up at the building. "It's some kind of essence. It's strong. It's the same feeling I felt when we confronted Angel. It's a demon..."

Before anyone could say anything else, they watched Shadow suddenly running towards the fire escape of the building.

Espio's mouth hung open as he witnessed Shadow's sudden reaction. It was clear that Shadow sensed another presence of a demon but he was taken by surprise that Shadow wasn't taking any caution about it. "Wha? Shadow? Wait up!" He, Freya, and Charmy began to follow behind him. When they finally caught up to him, they found themselves on the rooftop of the corporate building. They saw Shadow who was mindlessly staring at something that was standing across from them on the roof. Espio slightly panted from trying to catch up to him. He turned to Shadow with an annoyed look on his face, "Shadow, what the hell?" When he turned away from him, he saw a figure who was turned to them. The figure was looking down at a brown raccoon man who was kneeling down on his knees in front of them. He couldn't tell by much but from the back, he saw that the figure had a very woman like figure and was wearing a black and skin tight bodysuit and had long white hair that stopped at the waist.

The raccoon man was wearing a gray suit with a black tie and black dress shoes. He had looked up at the figure he had confronted with a terrified expression and blood running down the side of his head. "P-please!" He had begged with tears in his eyes, "Don't do this!"

Before the group could do anything, they saw the figure reach out towards him and grab around the man's neck. Before he had the chance to struggle in their grip, the figure took their other hand and dug their fingertips deep down his throat and to his chest. With only hearing a brief moment of his cries of agony, they watched blood splatter all over the figure's body and onto the ground near them.

Freya placed a hand over her mouth as she heard them ripping into the man's body.

With a disgusted look, Charmy felt like he couldn't take his eyes away from the sight. "Oh God..."

Espio's heart raced as he saw them beginning to take some of the lumps of flesh that was ripped out of the man's body and began to eat it. It was obvious the figure was a demon and a high ranking one at that. When he couldn't bare to watch the horrific sight take place in front of him anymore, he angrily shouted out towards them. "Hey! What the hell do you think you're doing?" The mysterious figure paused and dropped the lifeless body of the man they had confronted down onto the ground beside them. When Espio saw the figure slowly turn around, he had a shocked expression on his face. His eyes had fell upon a white bat woman who stood before them with blood smeared on her mouth and her hands were covered after killing the man she had confronted.

Everyone gasped and trembled as their eyes fell upon the bat woman who stood across from them.

Charmy slightly shook his head as he couldn't believe who was standing in front of them. "What? It...it can't be!"

Shadow's body shook slightly as his horrified eyes stared at the bat woman who had blood smeared across her lips. "...Rouge?"

With a twisted and menacing smile on her face, she took her hand that was dripping in blood and slowly stroked it down the side of her face while she let out a small and relieved sigh. A deep and menacing laugh slipped from her lips, "Hello Shadow dear, I was wondering when you'd find me."

Shadow stood there frozen as his eyes stared into her now blood red eyes that almost seemed like they were glowing. This couldn't have been her. The woman that was standing in front of him wasn't his wife. She was a bloodthirsty killer.

Freya's legs slightly shook as she stared at the demonic woman. "I-I don't understand. Wh-why is she doing this?"

Espio couldn't believe what he had saw either. There was no way that the woman who stood before them was their beloved ally and friend. But it was her. It was really her. "No..." Espio turned to Shadow and saw the mortified look on his face.

"...What...happened?" He knew what had happened. Another high ranking demon had captured her and forced her to drink their blood to turn her into a demon. The question was who. He didn't care when or why they did it. It was the matter that they did and it infuriated him more than anything ever had before. He clenched his fists tightly as he couldn't take his eyes away from her. "What have they done to you?"

She made a menacing laugh and flashed her fangs as she took her hand and slightly stroked through the bang of her hair that was covering one part of her face. "Oh, hunny. Why didn't you tell me?" Her hand then slowly traveled down to her waist. "That being a demon feels so damn good. So much power is flowing through my body..." She took her tongue and slowly licked some of the blood from her blood soaked fingers, "It's unbelievable..."

"Rouge..." He felt Espio place a hand on his shoulder and turned to him.

"I don't know what happened but...she's gone, Shadow. We can't save her from this..."

He was already trying to take in the fact that Rouge was no longer a mortal but a full fledged demon. Now Espio was insinuating that they had to kill her? "Then what are we supposed to do? Kill her? I'm not killing my wife!"

Killing her was something Espio never wanted to think of doing but at that point what other option did they have? "We have to do something, Shadow! Look at her! She's too far gone and God only know how many lives she's already taken." He then saw him beginning to slowly step towards her. "...Shadow?"

"...Just let me talk to her." When he stepped closer to her, he slowly extended his hand out to her. "Rouge..."

She stood there in silence with still the same devious look on her face as her attention fell onto him.

"I know you're still in there and I don't want to hut you."

Her evil smirk widened on her face, "Well that makes one of us." She then grabbed his wrist and threw his entire body away from her. She watched as his body slid away from her and hit the ground.

Charmy was amazed with how easily Rouge had tossed Shadow's body away from her. "Whoa..."

Freya was even shocked at how much her strength had increased. "She's gotten so strong."

Espio knew Shadow would have a hard time taking her on. It was already bad enough that she was already a strong fighter but now she had demonic super strength. He took a step forward as he wanted to step in. "Shadow!"

Shadow looked back over to Espio while he slowly stood from the ground. "Stay back! Don't interfere!"

Espio wasn't very surprised that he didn't want him to step in to help with the fight. Perhaps he was afraid that he would take it too far and severely hurt her or worse end up killing her. With a heavy sigh, he stepped back and decided to see what Shadow was going to do.

Freya watched as Shadow stepped closer to Rouge to confront her once again. She turned to Espio with a worried look on her face. "He doesn't want us to help? What if she ends up killing him?"

At this point, all Espio could do was sit back and watch everything happen. If he did step in, he may ruin any chance of Shadow trying to get through to her.

Shadow looked back up at her and once again held his hands out to her, "I don't want to fight you, Rouge."

She placed her hands on her hips and had an amused look on her face. "You might wanna reconsider that, sweetie."

Before he knew it, she charged towards him with a faster speed than normal and sent a powerful punch to his lower stomach. Before he could counteract with her attack, another punch was sent towards his face.

When she saw his body fly from her, she used her wings and flew into the air to come back down at him with her fist clenched.

Shadow saw her coming towards him and used his hand to hold her fist back. He struggled as he tried holding her back, "Looks like you're not leaving me a choice here."

She smirked evilly as she continued to try to break free from his grip. "Give me your best shot, sweetie." When he had gathered enough strength to push her away, she did a black flip and landed on the ground while standing in a fighting stance.

He had then ran up to her with his fists clenched and swung them towards her. With her fast movements, she had dodged his punches and grabbed his wrist. Once she had him in her grip, she used her knee to strike him in his stomach. She then took her elbow and used it to strike him in his back and made him fall to the ground.

Freya watched the battle take place in front of her eyes and was beginning to get worried for Shadow. "This is bad..."

Espio clenched his fists and gritted his teeth as the two fought with each other. 'Shadow...he's not even using his full strength! He's holding back...' He knew this was going to be bad from the start. He knew Shadow. He knew he was the type of person who wouldn't even dream about hurting his lover. He along with Charmy and Freya feared for his life.

After trying to withstand all of Rouge's powerful hits against him, his body had gotten weaker and weaker. Before he could stand from the ground, he saw her suddenly grabbing him around his neck tightly. He tried to break free of her grip but she was just too strong.

"Sorry it has to end this way, Shadow", she spoke while laughing evilly under her breath.

He continued to struggle to get out of her grip but he couldn't budge. "Rouge..." He spoke in a low and weak voice. He had then caught sight of her suddenly taking one of her fangs and biting into her bottom lip. His eyes widened as he saw blood emerging from her lip. Just then he realized she had him right where he wanted him. "No..." Before he could speak again, her grip around him had tightened.

She leaned in closer to him, "You're weak now but that'll all change soon..."

Charmy rose an eyebrow as he watched Rouge beginning to lean in closer to Shadow. "Is...is she gonna kiss him?"

Espio saw what was happening and was trying to figure out what was going on. "Something isn't right..." He and the rest of them watched as she leaned forward and roughly began to kiss Shadow.

While she kissed him, he could taste the blood from her lips. She had also bit into her tongue hard enough for quite a bit of blood to emerge. He tasted more and more of her blood. He tried not to swallow any of it but with her holding him down on the ground, it made it more difficult for him to do.

Rouge's bloody tongue continued to explore around his mouth until her hand that was around his neck felt him swallowing something. He had finally started to swallow some of the blood. Her eyes widened when he suddenly pushed her body off of him. It was enough force to knock her down onto the ground.

When he sat up from the ground, he looked down at the ground and tried coughing up some of the remaining blood that was in his mouth.

Espio and the rest of the group saw Shadow kneeling to the ground and coughing up the blood onto the ground. His heart raced as he watched him trying to cough up the blood from his mouth. 'That blood...it was Rouge's...'

Shadow stared at the blood that was on the ground, "Damn it..." He had then angrily slammed his fist down on the ground, "Damn it!" He shouted while he had blood dripping from his chin.

Freya saw everyone's upset expressions and wondered what was going on. She saw Shadow kneeling down to the ground and looking distraught. She just knew he was hurt. She took a step forward, "Boss..." Before she could take another step forward, Espio had held her back by her wrist. She turned back to him in confusion, "...Espio?"

"Freya, stay back", he said in a demanding tone.

"Wha-what?" She looked back and saw Rouge standing behind him with a look of triumph on her face. She heard his breathing getting heavier and saw him slowly standing from the ground. "What's happening?"

Espio knew exactly what was going on but it was far too late for any of them to do anything. Everything had already been done. 'Damn it! This can't be happening!'

Charmy slowly shook his head as he couldn't believe what he was witnessing, "Shadow, no..."

Espio took his eyes away from the sight and had quickly snapped himself back to reality. He began to tug on Freya's wrist, "Come on! We gotta go!"

She didn't understand what was happening. They were going to leave? What about Shadow? "What? But we can't leave! What about the boss?"

Charmy was sure Freya was just confused more than anything else but there was no real time to explain everything. He stepped over to her to grab her other wrist, "We can't help him, Freya! Trust us!"

"But..." While the both of them grabbed her wrist to try to pull her away, she turned back and saw Shadow menacingly looking back at her while he licked away some of the blood that was left around his lips. Her heart skipped a beat when she heard a deep and evil laugh coming from him. What was happening? Was the man who stood before them still Shadow The Hedgehog? "Boss..."

Rouge took a small step towards him and reached her hand out to gently caress the side of his face, "How do you feel...Darkness?" She felt him suddenly grab her around her waist and pull her towards him. She placed her hand on his chest and locked her red eyes with his. As she looked into his eyes, she could tell that his pupils were more slimmer than they averagely were.

"Never better", he spoke in a low tone before he leaned closer to roughly kiss her lips.

She slightly ran her hands across his chest while her tongue fought with his as the two were engaged in a passionate kiss.

When he slowly took his mouth from hers, his tongue dripped in both saliva and blood. He playfully licked her lips and smeared more blood across her lips. His eyes had then shifted over to Freya who had a mortified look on her face. With a small deep laugh, he turned away from her and turned back to Rouge. While he held around her waist he murmured under his breath, "...Chaos Control..."

When they all caught the glimpse of the flash of white light, they turned and saw that Shadow and Rouge had vanished.

 **Author's Note: Hope you guys been enjoying the recent updates lately! I was trying to do something different and also get the story moving a bit more instead of waiting a whole 2 weeks for a chapter bomb. Anyway, next week! Chapters 6 and 7 will be posted so be on the lookout! Things are gonna start getting pretty intense! Looking forward to next week and I will see you guys on the flipside!**

 **In The Next Chapter...**

 **Espio: We're screwed! We're so fucking screwed!**

 **Grace: Where is Shadow?**

 **Tikal: It can't be...I don't want to see that horrible demon again!**

 **Freya: I don't understand...**

 **Shadow: It feels good to be strong again...**

 **Devil: Where do you think you're going?**

 **Sally: Sha-Shadow?**

 **Shadow: Hello, Sally...**


	6. Chapter 6

**CHAPTER 6**

Bricks crumbled into bits after Rouge witnessed Shadow completely destroying a seemingly new brick chimney with his fist. She leaned her back against the entrance of the door that led inside of the tall building the both of them were on. With the full moon's light shining down upon them, she crossed her arms and made a sly look towards the hedgehog who was looking down at his clenched fists.

"It feels fucking great to be back." He looked away from his fists and then spun around to turn to her. "I've never felt better." He pointed towards her with a smirk formed on his lips, "And it's all thanks to you, babe."

A small yet devious smile formed on her lips, "It wasn't all my doing you know?"

She had already brought him up to speed on the situation and mentioned Devil and his plan to get Rouge to turn him. He made a nod and placed one hand in his pants pocket. "I'm aware since The Dark Alliance went out of their way to turn you and all." He saw her taking her back away from the door she leaned against and began to walk over to him. "An unnecessary move but I'm back nonetheless." He thought there had to be another way for The Dark Alliance to try to turn him without getting Rouge involved. However the deed was already done and at that point it was too late to go back now.

When she walked over to him, she pressed her body against his and stroked her fingers across his chest slowly. "Even though you're a full fledged demon now, you're still not at full power. You're still weak, love."

He slightly scoffed under his breath and took her hand away from his chest. He started to pace himself around the rooftop. "Yeah because I've been MIA for fucking ever!" He stopped in his tracks and turned back to her with an annoyed look on his face, "And it doesn't help that my body's been consuming salads and shit! What demon? Let alone a half demon eats vegan shit?" It was very rare for Shadow to eat any meat only because eating it always reminded him of what he had done while his inner demon took over his body. It would make him sick and eating lighter foods always settled his stomach.

Rouge stepped over to him once again and wrapped her arms around him lovingly. "You're just cranky cause you're a little hungry."

Before he could reply to her, the both of them were slightly startled when they heard a woman screaming down below them. They both looked only to find a woman being cornered in the back of a gas station by a group of five men. The woman was dressed in a business like suit. She wore a brown blazer, and the skirt that matched and black high heeled shoes. The five men appeared to be a gang of bikers. They all wore black and had on black leather jackets. They saw one of them grab her by her arm and slammed the front of her body against a brick wall.

The woman was now against the wall and surrounded by the terrifying men. Two men approached her and had their hands around both of her wrists. Tears streamed down her face as she struggled to get free. While she struggled, she saw one of the men beginning to undo his pants. "Help!" She screamed in terror, "Help me please!" She was silenced when one of the men that held her by her wrist used his free hand placed it over her mouth to try to keep her quiet.

With a careless look on her face, Rouge mindlessly stared as the group of men began to have their way with her. "Poor girl."

Shadow hungrily licked his lips as he watched everything take place in front of him. "We should help her. And ourselves..."

Meanwhile in the main lobby of the Chaotix, everyone happily watched as Grace gently bounced Spike up and down on her knee. Spike's excited laughs had filled the lobby.

Tikal stood beside Grace and stared at how Spike laughed and had his hands held up in the air in excitement. "Aw! I just love it when he laughs! It's the best thing!"

Grace turned away from Spike and looked over to Tikal while she continued to bounce him on and off her knee. "I'm glad he's enjoying this. I honestly didn't think he would take to me very well."

She knew when it came to warm and friendly faces, Spike wasn't the type to become nervous or frightened around new people. "Are you kidding? Spike loves you!"

Appex sat at a desk that was set on the other side of the lobby. He has his back leaned against the gray chair he sat in and had his feet propped up on the surface of the brown desk. He directed his attention towards Grace and stuck his thumb out to her. "You're doing a great job, mommy to be."

A small blush formed on her face. She had to admit that she was a little nervous about bringing a child of her own into the world. She couldn't help but to question herself if she was going to be a good mother. Judging from how much Spike had easily took to her, she felt more comfortable and confident. "I suppose having Spike around is like my training so I can get ready for my own little one."

Ker leaned his body against the main desk of the lobby and made a warm smile towards Grace. "I'm so happy for you, Grace. Do you and Charmy know the gender of the baby yet?"

Grace paused slightly and then looked back up towards the group with a teasing look on her face. "Yes but we're keeping it a secret for now."

Midnight had a look of disappointment on his face. He was trying not to seem like he was excited but he was. He knew little to nothing about children or having them. Spike was the only baby he had been close with and it excited him to know that Charmy and Grace were expecting a baby of their own. "Oh what!"

With her arms crossed, a small giggle escaped from Tonya. "Oh I see. A surprise."

Appex crossed his arms and arched an eyebrow as he witnessed the group with disappointed looks on their faces. "Why are you guys so bummed? You know Charmy has a big ass mouth right?"

Grace had stopped bouncing Spike on her knee and held him in her arms as she rose an eyebrow towards Appex. "For everyone's information, we've known about the gender of the baby for awhile and Charmy has as of yet to say anything to anyone." Deep down even she knew Charmy had quite a mouth, but even she was surprised that he didn't say anything to the team yet about the gender of the baby.

While everyone was surprised by the fact that Charmy hadn't said anything to anyone, Appex just knew that Charmy would slip up and say something eventually. "...I'll give it about a week." He and everyone else were startled when they heard the entrance doors suddenly fling open. They turned and saw Espio, Freya, and Charmy rushing inside with panicked and upset looks on their faces.

Grace stood from her chair in concern as she studied everyone's worried expressions. She held Spike close to her, "...Wha-what's going on?" She watched as Espio stormed his way over to the front desk.

"We're screwed! We're so fucking screwed!" He shouted angrily as he placed his hand on his head as he stormed over behind the front desk.

With a worried look on her face, Tonya walked over to him and gently placed her hand on his shoulder so he could face her. "Espio? What's the matter, hun?"

Before he could answer her or anyone else, Tikal glanced around only to find one member of the team that was missing. She turned to the upset chameleon. "Espio? Where is Shadow?" While she awaited for an answer, her and the rest of the group turned to him, Charmy, and Freya. They all had nervous looks on their faces and avoided eyes contact with. Her eyes shifted over to Freya and noticed that she seemed terrified. She saw Midnight giving her a worried look and rubbing her shoulder to try to calm her. Her eyes flashed back over to Espio as she began to get impatient while waiting for an answer. "Espio", she called in a slightly louder and firm tone. "Where is Shadow?"

Grace slightly bit her lip when she thought the worst thing possible could've happened to him. "Is...is he okay?"

Espio slowly shook his head before he gave the group his full attention. He took a deep breath before he spoke out to them. "...Shadow is..." He slightly paused and bit his lip before he could continue. He still couldn't get over what he had just saw and just wanted it all to be some kind of bad dream. "...The Dark Alliance lured him into a trap." He placed his hand on his forehead as his eyes shifted down to the floor, "I should've seen it coming but I didn't put all the pieces together in time."

Ker's heart raced as he heard him mention The Dark Alliance He knew that The Dark Alliance wanted to try to turn Shadow but he knew if they couldn't do so, killing him wouldn't be a problem for them either. "A trap by The Dark Alliance? What did they do? Did they..."

While still having his eyes directed down at the floor, he slightly shook his head. "...Darkness is back..."

Shocked by what came out of Espio's mouth, Appex took a small step back in shock. "No..."

Tonya placed her hands over her mouth, "Shadow's demonic powers...they've been restored?" When she saw Espio make a small nod for reassurance, her eyes widened in horror. "It can't be..."

Appex shook his head as he didn't want to believe what Espio just said. "No way!" He then angrily slammed his fist down onto the desk he stood beside, "This is bullshit! How did this happen?"

"Someone from The Dark Alliance captured Rouge and turned her so she could get close to Shadow..." Charmy explained in a saddened tone while Grace had her hand placed on his shoulder.

Midnight's ears perked up when he heard Rouge's name. "Rouge?" It was already bad enough The Dark Alliance got to Shadow but Rouge too? "No way..."

With a confused look on het face, Grace took her hand away from Charmy's shoulder and held Spike close to her while she glanced around at the shocked group. "Wait a minute. I'm confused. Who exactly is Darkness anyway?"

Charmy spun around to turn to her so he could start explaining to her. "Darkness is Shadow's demonic counterpart. He's far different from how Shadow normally is. I mean since he's apart of him, he's still Shadow. He's just more powerful and fucking evil to the core."

"...Evil?" Grace personally thought Shadow seemed a bit cold hearted as far as his appearance went but when she started to get to know him better, he was far from it. He was one of the nicest people she had ever met in such a short time. She and everyone else had then heard soft sobbing coming from Tikal. They turned and saw her kneeling down to the floor with her body slighting shaking.

Tikal looked down at the floor and placed her hands on her head while she sobbed. "Please God no...not again. I don't want to see that horrible demon again!"

Tonya saw how upset she had gotten and decided to try to comfort her. She walked over to her and kneeled down on the floor in front of her. She made her look up at her and held her close to her while she continued to sob. "Tikal, sweetie..."

Tikal tightly clung onto Tonya and had her face buried in her white shirt. "I can't do it. I can't...I can't face him again..." Her sobbing got softer as Tonya held her body close to hers and hushed her softly.

She knew Tikal was absolutely terrified of Shadow's demonic counterpart. She recalled the events that had taken place when Tikal had confronted Darkness before and it ended up being her last time. She gently stroked her fingers through her orange hair, "It's gonna be okay, hun. I swear I won't let him harm you."

With her still not knowing what was completely going on, she looked over to Tonya who was trying to comfort Tikal. She wondered what exactly happened the last time Shadow's demonic powers were restored? Whatever had happened, it clearly left bitter memories for the group.

Espio's head was still looking downwards at the front desk he stood behind. Despite the horrific situation, he knew he had to try to remain strong and put on a fearless face. With Shadow gone and clearly not on their side, he had to step up and be the strong leader that the team needed. "...Nails..." He looked away from the desk and turned to Tikal. "We need Nails."

Tikal took her wet face away from Tonya's shirt and turned to Espio with a confused look. "Huh?"

"Darkness is on a whole other level of shit and if anyone has a clue on how to stop this evil fuck, it's gotta be her." Nails was a gifted and strong witch and he knew that she would have a better idea on how to help Shadow out of anyone else.

Grace couldn't help but to wonder how the group helped Shadow overcome Darkness from the time before. "But how did you all defeat Darkness last time?"

Tonya began to explain, "There once an evil and satanic talisman called The Devil Bond."

"The Devil Bond?" Grace repeated blankly.

Tonya made a nod and continued, "The Devil Bond had the power to bond Darkness with Shadow's body. Basically Darkness would have complete and total power over Shadow's body forever."

"So in other words, there would be no way to save him?"

She again made a nod, "Exactly. But we figured out how to reverse the effects and use it against him to save him. Neutralizing the demonic blood that flows within his body. Taming his inner demon unless the blood of a full demon were to be injected into his body."

Grace placed a finger under her chin as she began to understand the concept. "I see..."

"But it was destroyed the moment we sealed Darkness' power away", Charmy spoke as he held out his hand in a confusing gesture. "What are we gonna do now?"

Espio turned to Charmy, "Like I said, if anyone has any idea on how to take him out, it's Nails. Because let's face it. If any of us try to take him on, we're as good as dead." He turned away from him and shifted his eyes downwards, "Especially with that motherfucker constantly using that Chaos Control ability. With that under his belt, we're just fucking sunk." He turned back to Tikal, "Tikal, I know you're scared but I need you to pull yourself together and call Nails. Tell her she needs to get back to Tech City immediately."

Tikal had to agree that Nails would know exactly what to do. She took a slight moment to try to get herself together before she pulled away from Tonya to go to find her phone so she could get in contact with Nails.

Espio tried to calm himself and sat down in the black desk chair behind him and rested his arms on the surface of the desk. He glanced up at the computer screen in front of him with thoughts running through his head. Before he could begin to do anything, he heard Freya speak up.

"I don't understand..."

Espio and the rest of the group turned to Freya who stood in the center of the lobby with an upset look on her face.

"Why is everyone so afraid?" She clenched her fists and held them by her side while they slightly shook. "The boss...would never hurt anyone. He's not like the rest of the other demons. He's not..."

Espio placed a hand on the side of his head and sighed heavily. Along with Grace, he knew she was just as confused and upset. He hated seeing her like this. She clearly looked up to Shadow and to just have him in this situation, he could imagine how confused and scared she was. Especially from witnessing everyone else's reaction. "Freya...you don't understand. You've never seen this side of Shadow before."

She then began to have flashbacks of her last moments of seeing Shadow. Just imagining his menacing and bloodthirsty look over and over had made her stomach turn. "And I've seen enough of it!" She shifted her eyes down to the floor and slowly shook her head, "That man wasn't him. It just wasn't..."

"You're right", Tonya spoke. "That man isn't him."

Freya looked away from the floor and turned to Tonya who had a serious look on her face.

"And with that being said, you need to start putting your personal feelings behind you. Darkness is a ruthless and bloodthirsty killer. He's manipulative as fuck and he'll get what he wants one way or another. He'll come at you full force so when you see him, don't hold back or you'll die."

"Tonya..." Freya couldn't believe what she was telling her. She had to admit that deep down, she was probably right. She barely knew anything about Darkness but Tonya and the rest of the group fought with him before. More than once and they were already aware what they were up against.

Charmy made a small nod and turned to Freya, "She's right. As of right now, if we all want to live we come at Darkness with our all." He turned to Grace who still seemed frightened but beginning to get the point of how everyone should handle Shadow if anyone came in contact with him.

Espio's eyes glanced over to Charmy and Midnight, "Make sure every fucking inch of this place is locked down. I don't want no demons getting in or out."

When Appex saw Midnight and Charmy agreeing with him and starting to lock the windows and doors, he pointed at the front doors with an arched eyebrow "Hey, Es? You know Shadow can just...Chaos Control himself in here whenever he wants and...slit our throats and..." His words trailed off as Espio began to give him an angry look. He paused for a second before he spoke again, "And he...kinda runs this place? Doesn't he have keys to every thing in here?"

Espio angrily leaned his back against the desk chair he sat in and carelessly shrugged his shoulders. He slammed his hand down onto the desk before he flashed his eyes over towards the porcupine. "Okay fuck it! Open the windows! Open the doors! Let's have the motherfucker walk in and have ourselves lay out on a fucking buffet table for him!"

After when the entire lobby had gotten quiet, Appex realized that Espio was already well aware of Shadow getting in but still wanted to do all what he could to try to keep him out of the Chaotix even if it came to simply locking the entry points of the building. He pointed back at the doors and began to slowly back towards it. "...I'm uh...I'm just gonna go lock the doors..."

Espio made a small yet annoyed nod towards the porcupine, "Yeah you go do that."

Ker walked over and stood next to Espio with a worried look on his face, "You know he's right. If Shadow now has the ability to warp himself anywhere he wants, why hasn't he come here to kill us already?"

Espio slightly shrugged his shoulders, "No idea but I bet he's plotting something. Nevertheless we need to be on guard."

He made a nod as he agreed with him. "I wasn't here the last time his powers were active but the thought of him and Rouge killing innocent lives...it's quite scary..."

Espio didn't want to admit it but it made a shiver go down his spine as he imagined Shadow and Rouge murdering innocent people. "I...I know..."

While Espio was deep in thought, he turned back to him. "...You don't think they'll come after Spike do you? I mean they don't have a reason to."

Espio slightly shrugged his shoulders, "I'm not sure. There's no telling what they or The Dark Alliance are plotting." He had hoped that Shadow and The Dark Alliance would stray away from Spike. They really had no use for him unless they got in their mind that they wanted to turn Spike as well. Just thinking of it, worried him about Spike's safety. His eyes shifted back over to him, "For all we know, they may try to turn him too..."

He made a small gasp, "No..." He had hoped that Shadow and Rouge wouldn't end up turning Spike into a demon as well. He really thought they didn't have a reason to but who knew what was going through their minds.

He placed a finger under his chin, "Not saying that they will but it's a possibility..."

"But yet and still, Spike is not safe. What do we do?"

He crossed his arms and tried to think of a solution, "Well we can't leave him at Shad and Rouge's place that's for sure and Nails' apartment is a no go."

He made a nod as he knew those places would be one of the first places they would check for Spike. "I'm pretty sure that'll be the first few places they'll look."

Espio scanned around the lobby to see who would be suitable to take care of Spike. Shadow was personally close with everyone. But he had to think who Shadow would least expect to look after Spike. His eyes fell upon Freya. He had knew on Freya's side that she admired Shadow but at the same time, she never personally looked after Spike. She would play with him on occasion but she was never with him for a long period of time. She at that point would be the best candidate to watch over Spike. "Freya..."

Freya's ears perked up when Espio had called out to her.

"I know you're kinda freaked out. We all are but I need you to take on a task...if you're up for it."

"...What's that?"

"Spike. We can't leave him with any of us. Shadow or Rouge may end up finding him and fast. If we leave him with you, there's a good chance they may try to come to you last. But hopefully by then, we'll think of a way to save them. We need extra time and leaving Spike in your care will give us that. Can you do this?"

She paused for a moment as she began to think deeply about the task Espio had given her.

Espio saw her hesitating and was worried that she wouldn't be able to look after Spike. "Please, Freya. Don't do it for us. Do it for Spike. He didn't ask for any of this and I would hate to have anything to happen to him."

Her eyes glanced back over to Spike who had fell asleep in Grace's arms. Just knowing that Spike would be some kind of tracker for Shadow or Rouge finding her, it slightly frightened her. But at this point, Espio was right. This was about Spike and his safety. She felt determined to look after Spike and give it her all if Shadow and Rouge were to confront her. She turned back to Espio and made a nod. "...You can count on me, Captain Espio."

A small smile formed on his lips as he made a nod back towards her, "Thank you, Freya." He then saw Midnight walk over to him with his hands in his pants pockets.

"So", Midnight spoke. "Shadow and Rouge are both loose cannons. What are we gonna do about this?"

Espio sighed heavily as his eyes shifted back over to the computer screen in front of him. "I don't want to do this but I don't have a choice. The situation has already spiraled out of control. I have to alert The Council..."

Later, Rouge took her fangs out of the bloody collarbone of one of the men that were once threatening the woman they were all after. While she hungrily licked her bloodstained lips and dropped the body of the man down onto the ground harshly. She looked up at Shadow slowly approached her while he dragged the lifeless corpse of another one of the men. The body he dragged had the arm of it half eaten and now barely being attached. There was also a big chunk of flesh missing from the side of the neck. He stood in front of her and carelessly tossed the body to the side. She watched as the body slammed into the brick wall that was near them. A slight smirk formed on her lips as she looked up at him. "Feeling better, love?"

He held his hand up towards his mouth and licked some of the blood away from his soaked fingertips. "Much better." His eyes shifted back behind him to the corpse of the woman the men were after. He observed her chest being ripped apart down to her stomach exposing her bloody insides that were just lumps of flesh slipping out of her body and piling on the ground beneath her. He arched an eyebrow while stared at the corpse of the woman. "Of course I can't speak for that sad bitch..."

Rouge stood from the ground and glanced at the body of the woman he had killed and back at him with a sly smile on her lips. She placed her hands on her hips, "God you're messy. You're like a child with paint."

He glanced around at the group of men that were now lifeless bodies that were scattered all over the ground around them. He pointed down at one of the bodies, "Speak for yourself."

"In my opinion, I think you're both equally messy", a strange voice had suddenly spoken.

Slightly startled by the sudden voice, Shadow and Rouge both turned to see a white rabbit boy standing at the end of the gas station building they stood behind.

Rouge rose an eyebrow towards the seemingly familiar child, "Oh it's Devil..."

Shadow watched as the child began to step towards them while he had a lollipop in his mouth. He already knew who he was. Rouge had told him earlier about who had turned her. "So you're the one who sired my wife?" He crossed his arms as he continued to look him up and down, "She forgot to mention you were a fucking kid."

With an annoyed look on his face, he took the lollipop out of his mouth and held it down next to his side. "I am much older than my appearance. You know demons don't age."

He carelessly shrugged his shoulders, "Yeah it just sucks for you when you go off and sire someone who's ten times your height."

Devil was used to others insulting him about his age so Shadow's comments never really bothered him but it did slightly irritate him. "I'm not here to have small talk, Darkness. Lord Dark requests you and Rouge to come to The Nest immediately. He's...very anxious to talk with you."

"Is that so? Well then..." He turned away from him and placed his hand on his hip while a devious look formed on his lips. "While you and Rouge go back to this...Nest, I have a few last minute things to take care of."

Rouge didn't know what had suddenly gotten into him. She figured he would feel the same way towards Dark. She slightly tilted her head in confusion, "Huh?"

Devil had the same look of confusion on his face but he was just more annoyed with his answer. "Did you not hear anything I've said? If you don't come with us, Lord Dark will not be pleased."

"He can wait a little longer right?"

Devil crossed his arms as he got more and more irritated with him. "I don't know what could possibly be more important than meeting with Lord Dark but you know what? I'm just the messenger."

He turned back to him with his devious look still on his face, "Then be a good little errand boy and tell Dark I'll be there."

He held out his hands in a confusing gesture, "But you don't even know how to get to The Nest."

He slightly shrugged his shoulders carelessly, "Hey I'm Lord Dark's flesh and blood right? I'll figure it out."

When the two saw Shadow suddenly running off from behind the gas station, Rouge turned to Devil. "We should get going."

"I'm right behind you", when he saw Rouge running off towards the direction of The Nest, Devil turned his attention in the direction of which Shadow had went. "...After I find out what he's up to..." He murmured under his breath before he began to follow Shadow's tracks.

Later, Sally was in her bedroom sitting on a white chair at her vanity table. She had on a light blue lingerie dress with thin shoulder straps and the dress had stopped above her knees. It was late in the night and she was preparing herself for bed. She spotted the black hair brush on the other end of the table. Before she could pick up her brush, Sonic had came into the room and stretched out his arms tiredly while he yawned.

"What a day", he spoke in a tired voice while he walked over to her. "This detective work is taking a lot out of me."

Sally turned to him and raised an eyebrow, "You look so tired, Blue." She pointed at the already made bed that was behind her, "Why don't you call it a night and get some sleep?"

Sonic shrugged his shoulders, "I've tried passing out on the sofa earlier but I just can't sleep. I don't know what's wrong with me." He paused when his stomach started suddenly growling. With a light blush on his face, he placed a hand on his growling stomach. "Now I'm hungry", he spoke with a chuckle. He slightly rubbed his stomach and looked back at her, "Hey, Sal? Anywhere around here that's selling chili dogs right now?"

She paused and turned to look at the clock that was hanging on the wall above her. She turned back to him with an arched eyebrow. "Sonic, it's damn near one in the morning. Why in the hell do you want a chili dog at this hour?"

He made a teasing look and pointed towards her, "Hey I don't judge when you're digging at the bottom of a tub of ice cream at three in the morning."

A slight blush formed on her face when she figured she had gotten found out about her sneaking out of bed at night to find something sweet to eat late at night. "...You weren't supposed to know about that."

He made a teasing laugh and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Ah ha! See! Looks like my one AM chili dog craving gets a pass."

With a small smile on her lips, she rolled her eyes and turned back to look at her reflection in the mirror in front of her. "Fine but don't stay out too late. Remember you have work in the morning, sir."

He saw her picking up the hair brush off of the table and began to brush her hair. "Heh, whatever you say, boss lady." He leaned over and kissed the side of her forehead. "I'll be back. Love you, Sal."

"Love you too, hun." After when she heard his footsteps leaving the room and the door closing, the bedroom had gotten quiet. The only thing Sally could hear was the gentle breeze flowing into the room from the balcony window she had left open. She continued to brush her hair until she heard something coming from the window. She turned and saw nothing but the sheer transparent white curtains fluttering in the wind and the bright light from the full moon shining onto the floor. She turned away and shook her head slightly when she figured that the noise she had heard just came from her imagination. She attempted to brush her hair again until she was once again disrupted. It was her phone that had vibrated on the far side of the vanity. She knew it was just a text message. She figured it was from Sonic. She glanced at the sender and saw that it was from Sarah Wish. She began to get suspicious. Why would she receive any messages from Sarah at this time of night? Something had to be wrong.

When she started to reach for the phone, she couldn't help but to suddenly get a cold chilling feeling. She had no idea what it was but something in the air had made a shiver go down her spine. The air had gotten colder and she couldn't help but to feel like a heavier and dark essence had entered her room. Something or someone besides her was in the room and she knew it. She didn't turn her head or shift her eyes to look in the mirror that was in front of her. Instead she slowly reached under her table to find the small knife she had hidden under it. She held the knife tightly in her hand and took a small deep breath. Quickly, she stood from her chair and spun around with her holding the blade of the knife up under the chin of the strange figure who stood behind her. Her eyes widened as she caught sight of the familiar black and red hedgehog who stood in front of her. She gasped as she gazed upon the dark hedgehog who had a calming look on his face. "...Sha-Shadow?"

With his hands buried in his pants pockets, his red eyes gazed down upon the startled chipmunk while she still held the blade of the knife under his chin. A small and devious smile formed on his lips, "Hello, Sally..."

 **Author's Note: So...I guess you guys know where this is heading...I know you guys wanted to see some action between Shadow and Sally since the last story and well...I was listening. Fair warning! Next chapter things get pretty intense between Shadow and Sally so hope you all are prepared! See you guys in the next update tomorrow! See you guys on the flipside!**

 **In The Next Chapter...**

 **Bunnie: Shadow's demon powers has been restored? What do we do?**

 **Sarah: We will do what we must to ensure everyone's safety...**

 **Rick: There is no better time than this! Let's take Shadow and Rouge out! It's now or never!**

 **Sally: ...Shadow?**

 **Shadow: I've waited so long for this, Sal...**

 **Sally: Please don't do this...**


	7. Chapter 7

**CHAPTER 7**

Bunnie flung open the doors of Sarah Wish's office and rushed inside of the dark office. She stood at the doorway panting heavily from apparently running. She directed her attention towards the other end of the dark office. The room was lit with a dim lamp that was placed on the large desk across from her. Her eyes caught sight of a yellow fox woman who stood behind the large desk and had her attention directed at the computer screen in front of her. "Miss...Miss Wish", she panted. "I got your message." She started to walk over towards her with a panicked look on her face. "Is..is it true?"

Sarah slowly took her eyes away from the computer screen and turned to her while making a nod. "Just heard from Espio himself..."

In shock, Bunnie's eyes wandered down to the floor. "So it's happened...Shadow..."

"And Rouge..." She started to slowly make her way from behind the desk she stood behind. "I not too long ago alerted all of the Council members and their Captains."

She took her eyes away from the floor and looked back up at her. "Okay so Shadow and Rouge have gone off the grid. What should we do?" She held out her hands in a confusing gesture, "Should I alert my police force? G.U.N.?"

"Bunnie, this is a crisis of The Council. Not a nation wide emergency...as of yet anyway." She slightly bit her lip and hoped that The Council had a way to solve the situation before they actually did have to turn to military force. "We'll enlist the help of the Council and if we can't save them..."

She paused and made a nervous look towards her.

She slowly clenched her fist and held it next to her side, "We must stop them at all costs..."

Later, Rick came into Leon's office that was within The Crimson Blade's Detective Agency. He entered the seemingly dark and quiet office while he lazily scuffed his feet on the floor. He yawned and stretched out his arms tiredly while he made his way towards the desk Leon had sat behind. "Holy shit", he yawned. "Why did you call me here so late?" With him not hearing a reply right away from him, he noticed that his face was buried in the screen of his computer that was sitting on his desk. He made his way behind the desk and stood beside him. He took his hand and rested it on the surface of the desk while he turned to him and watched him type on the keyboard of the computer. "Don't you know some of us are trying to sleep or get laid? Or both?"

With an unamused look on his face, Leon paused and shifted his eyes over to him. "You didn't look at your messages?"

He arched an eyebrow and saw the serious expression on his face. With that, he could tell something was wrong. "Uh, no? Is...is something wrong?"

Leon's eyes shifted away from him and looked back at the computer screen, "...It's happened..."

Rick slightly tilted his head to the side in confusion. "...Huh?"

"Shadow...his demonic powers have been reawakened..."

Rick took his hand away from the desk he rested it on and took a step back as he gave Leon an unbelievable look. "Wha-what?" He took a step forward and looked at the computer screen to glance through the message that Sarah had sent out. "It's happened? It's finally happened?"

Leon made a slow nod while not taking his eyes away from the screen. "Yes and this time his wife, Rouge has also had demon blood injected into her body."

Rick looked away from the computer and turned to him. "So wait...Shadow and Rouge are both demons?"

He again made a slow and small nod.

Rick had clenched fist and punched it into the palm of his other hand with a smirk on his face. "Perfect! Now we can all kill those two together!" He hated Shadow and he always hated Shadow. Out of everyone else, he was the one who passionately wanted to see him dead. He never had much of an encounter with Rouge but he hated her for simply being his supportive wife. With her now being a demon, this gave him all the more reason to despise her.

Leon slightly arched an eyebrow as he witnessed how excited he had suddenly gotten. Then again he shouldn't be very surprised by his reaction. He knew how Rick felt about Shadow and he made it very clear towards him and others. "According to Miss Wish's message, she wants me and the rest of the Council to meet up in Tech City and figure out a way to stop them without having the intent to kill."

With his mouth hung open, he immediately objected to Sarah's decision. He held both of his clenched fists beside him in uprising anger. "What!" That's bull! We all need to ban together and take them out! There is no better opportunity than this!"

Leon saw how upset he was getting and decided that it was time for him to do his part and start acting on the situation. He stood from his chair and shifted his eyes away from Rick, "I don't understand her orders either but if she has a way to stop them without killing them then I won't argue with her." Leon always personally felt uncomfortable around Shadow due to this ever happening. So if anything were to seriously happen, he wouldn't object to eliminating him for the greater good.

"What!" He stepped back and watched him walking from behind the desk and heading towards the door. "This is madness! People are gonna die! Let me come with you!"

Leon spun around and turned to him with an aggravated look while he pointed towards him. "This is between me and the rest of The Council. You're staying here in case anything happens."

He wanted him to stay behind and he was not for that at all. He was determined to go with him to try to persuade the others to kill Shadow and Rouge. "But...but Leon!" He was silenced when he heard his loud voice filling the quiet office.

"That's an order, Rick!"

After that being said, Rick felt utterly powerless at the moment and in anger watched as Leon stormed out of the office.

Meanwhile, the bedroom was silent and the only thing was heard was the gentle wind making its way into the bedroom from the open balcony window. Sally's body froze as her eyes gazed upon the dark hedgehog who stood in front of her with still holding the sharp blade of the knife up against his neck. "Sha-Shadow?" She quickly took the knife away from his neck and set it down on the vanity table behind her. "My God! I-I'm so sorry! Are you okay?"

He took his hand and placed it around his neck with a small smile on his face. "My head's still in tact so I guess I'll live."

She let out a sigh of relief, "I'm sorry, Shadow. You just startled me." She just knew someone had snuck in and never in a million years she would find Shadow standing in the middle of her bedroom.

He arched an eyebrow towards her while he crossed his arms. "So if I were Sonic trying to play a prank on you, I guess he'd be in some deep shit huh?"

A small yet nervous laugh escaped her while her eyes anxiously adverted from his. "Uh, yeah. Pretty sure he wouldn't be laughing..." Her eyes slowly shifted back to him and wondered why he was in her bedroom and at this late at night. She glanced at him still wearing his work uniform and figured with him just randomly showing up at her house unannoucned and wearing his work attire, she thought something was wrong and it was all linking back to the message that Sarah had sent out.

He slightly glanced around the bedroom, "Speaking of Sonic...where is he anyway?"

"Oh, he just stepped out." She caught him several times already glancing at her revealing night attire and didn't have a robe or anything nearby to cover herself. She took her arms and crossed them across her chest that exposed her cleavage. "Why? Is something wrong?" She then watched him beginning to slowly pace around the room.

"Well no just..." He spun back around to turn to her with his eyes nervously looking around the room. "I wanted to talk..."

"To Sonic? He should be back soon..." Her words were cut off when Shadow had suddenly spoken.

He slowly shook his head, "Not Sonic. You..."

She made a slight pause and gave him a strange look. What did he possibly want to talk about with her? And why couldn't it have been through the phone? Was it so important that he had to suddenly show up at her house? "...Me? What's...what's wrong, Shadow?"

He slowly began to walk back over to her, "We just never had the chance to talk about us."

She nervously placed a finger under her chin as she watched him slowly approach her. "...Us? I um...don't understand..."

Once he stood close to her, he made a small nod towards her, "Yes you do."

She was at a loss for words. What had suddenly gotten into him? What was going on at that moment?

"Sally, you can try to fool everyone else but you sure as hell aren't fooling me."

She took her finger from under her chin and placed her hand lightly on her chest while her arms were still crossed. "...What?"

His eyes wandered from hers and shifted downwards, "Ever since we kissed each other back in Kingdom of Acorn, I've never felt the same about you. And you feel the same way." His eyes were again locked with her, "Don't you?"

He was talking about their small intimate moment the two had shared together back in Acorn Kingdom and was completely thrown off by it. As she recalled, he was the one who wanted to forget about it and here he was bringing it back up again. She didn't know what had suddenly got into him. Maybe he had some kind of disagreement with Rouge and he wanted some kind of comfort with her. She slowly shook her head and stepped back from him. "Shadow, don't...whatever is going through your head, you need to snap out of it. You're married and you love Rouge."

He shook his head, "That doesn't mean shit to me. It doesn't mean shit to you either. That's why you threw yourself at me that last time when we were in the bedroom. You wanted me to fuck you right then and then."

Just him bringing everything back up had made her feel awful. Just looking back at how she acted towards him realized how selfish she acted. She wanted to blame the lust and the tenseness of the situation but she knew it still fell back on her. "But you didn't and I'm so sorry if I came at you like that. You did the right thing and you stopped it. And I'm so glad you did..."

"Well I'm not..." He had snapped coldly.

Who was this man? Was this even Shadow she was talking to right now?

"I regret everything that didn't happen between us, Sal. I wanted you so badly, but I was an idiot and pushed you away."

She suddenly saw him reach out to her and began to gently caress the side of her face while the both of them were lost in each other's eyes. She knew where this was going and it felt wrong but she couldn't find the motivation to pull herself from him. "Shadow, why are you saying all of these things?"

"I know that we could never be together but have you ever thought about what it would be like if I never pushed you away?"

Her heart raced as he gently ran his thumb across her soft lips. "Shadow..."

His lips were practically inches away from hers as he spoke softly to her. "Sally, just one night with you is all I ask and I swear we can just walk away and continue to live our lives like nothing ever happened."

She placed her hand over his and shook her head slowly, "Shadow, we shouldn't do this..."

"But you want this", he whispered as he leaned forward and began to softly kiss her bare shoulder. "And I want this too."

She small gasp escaped her as she felt his lips touching her shoulder and making his way up to her neck. Her body slightly quivered when she felt the feel of his hands traveling down her lower waist. "Shadow..."

His hands slightly clenched the light blue lingerie dress she wore. The fabric was thin and sheer feeling. He felt like it would take him little to no effort to rip the dress right from her body. His hands traveled down to her bare thighs and made their way up under her dress. He playfully stroked and grabbed her bare butt while his hands traveled up her dress. "God you're so beautiful, Sal", he whispered softly.

Her breathing got slightly heavier when she felt him slightly playing with the elastic from the blue thong she wore. She ran her hands gently across his chest while his hands worshiped her body. Soft moans escaped her as he continued to kiss and suck on her neck. It was hard for her fight the feeling that was coming over her. His temptation towards her came in strong and she like she wasn't strong willed enough to push him away. "Shadow, please..." She begged in a soft and aroused tone. "We can't...we can't do this..." She felt him leading her body until her back had gently met the wall.

He took his lips from her neck and made his way up to start kissing her soft lips, "Don't fight it, Sal", he spoke as he kissed her. "You know you want this." He continued to passionately kiss her while his body was pressed against hers.

While his tongue fought with hers, she could feel his manhood hardening rubbing against her lower waist. He felt his hand grabbing her bare thigh and running it upwards until it met the front of the thong she was wearing. The blush that was already on her face deepened as she felt his fingers beginning to stroke her through her thong.

While he kissed her, he could feel her becoming wet through the thong she wore.

It wasn't long before she felt his fingers slowly being shoved into her opening. She took her lips from his and small gasps had escaped her. She bit her lip as she felt his fingers being shoved in and out of her drenched opening. "Oh, Shadow", she spoke in a low and aroused tone.

He saw the reaction on her face and took note of her clearly enjoying the taste of pleasure he was giving her. "You like that don't you, Sal?" He whispered in a low tone as he massaged her dripping entrance.

When she felt him taking his fingers out of her, she then felt her thong slipping down her legs and practically being ripped off of her. When he leaned in to kiss her once again, she could hear the rustling of his pants being undone. She then felt him taking her leg and gently lifting it off of the floor and wrapping it around his body. Her lips broke apart from his and her eyes met his as she felt his bare and hard member rubbing against her.

He leaned his forehead against hers before he spoke softly to her. "I wanted you, Sally. I've always wanted you."

Everything was like some kind of dream but this all was actually happening. She knew this was wrong and was bound to have severe consequences for them both but at that moment, she didn't care. With his constant teasing and taunting, it drove her wild and she wanted more. She wanted him and there was no denying it. With her breathing heavily, she wrapped her arms around his neck and replied back in a low and seductive tone. "...Then take me, Shadow." She leaned in and brought him into another passionate kiss. As she kissed him, she winced as she began to feel his hard and large member being placed inside of her. She took her lips away from his and dug her fingertips into his shoulders as she felt him shoving himself deeper inside of her. A gasp escaped her as he went further inside her, "Oh God, Shadow..."

He buried his face into her shoulder as he began to slowly thrust himself in and out of her. "Goddamn it, Sal. You feel so amazing."

She held onto him tightly as his thrusts had gotten slighter harder. Her aroused gasps and pleasurable moans filled the bedroom, "Ah...oh fuck..." She bit her lip as she felt his hard member stroking against the warm and tight walls inside of her. She didn't want this forbidden feeling between the two to never stop.

He took himself out of her and kissed her lips once again before he led her over to the bed that was near them. He playfully pushed her down onto the soft bed and placed his body on top of hers. When he had kissed her once more, he began to pull the small straps of her dress down her shoulders enough so that her bare perky breasts were exposed to him.

She felt his lips travel down her neck and to her chest. He began to lick and tease her erect nipples. She leaned her head back onto the soft white pillow it was on and slightly clenched the sheets of the bed. She clenched the bed sheets harder when she felt his fingers being placed inside of her moist and throbbing opening. His lips made their way down her stomach and to her lower waist until she felt his tongue licking and flickering at her clit. Her moans grew louder now that she felt both his fingers and tongue pleasuring her. "Ah! Oh fuck, Shadow!"

A low chuckle was heard from him as he continued to shove his fingers in and out of her in a rapid motion. "That's it", he spoke in a low tone. "Fucking scream my name."

As he taunted and teased her throbbing clit, she bit her lip harder, "Yes", she huffed in an aroused tone. "Oh yes, Shadow!"

He slowly took his mouth from her dripping hot core and took his tongue to slowly devour the sweet nectar that was left on his fingers. "God you taste so sweet, Sal. And the sounds you make when you're being pleasured...holy shit. Music to my ears." He leaned over to her and locked his eyes with her. "I wonder how you sound when you're getting off."

She winced slightly as she felt his length once again penetrate her throbbing opening. She gripped onto his shoulders while he placed himself deep inside of her. "Ah...Yes. Fuck me hard, Shadow."

With a smirk on his face, he began to do what she wanted. He thrusted himself into her slowly but rough.

She bit her lip hard as his thrusts had gotten fiercer. She dug her fingertips deep into his back. "F-Faster...", she begged in an aroused voice. "Faster, Shadow." When he picked up more speed, it was enough to rock the bed and her perky breasts had bounced along with his motions. With his length stroking her tight and moist walls inside of her, she didn't know how much longer she could hold herself back. "Ah! Shadow, I...I'm gonna come!"

He knew that she was getting close to reaching her peak especially with her body slightly shaking below his. "Do it. I want you to come all over my dick."

With him still going at it and not stopping, she could no longer hold herself back and released herself while she cried out in pleasure. "Oh God! Fuck!"

As soon as he felt her warm juices splash onto him, he felt like he couldn't hold back any longer himself. He held onto the headboard of the bed and released himself inside of her. He practically collapsed onto her body in exhaustion while he panted heavily. "Holy shit..."

With her chest heaving, she laid there and held him in his arms until she felt him take his dripping wet member out of her. She watched as he took his body from hers and got off of the bed. With her sweaty chest still heaving, her eyes looked up at the white ceiling above her. She slowly shut her eyes as she realized what the two had just got done doing with each other. She slept with Shadow and there was no going back from that reality. 'Oh my God', she thought. 'What have I done?' Her thoughts were interrupted when she heard Shadow zipping his jeans back up and trying to fix his clothes. She opened her eyes and slowly sat up from the bed. While nervously straying her eyes away from him, she tried to fix herself as well and placed the straps of her dress back over her shoulders. Her eyes were directed down at the messy bed sheets she was on until she heard the flicker of a lighter. She looked up and saw him lighting a cigarette that was placed in his mouth. She couldn't really tell what was crossing his mind. He didn't really seem at all upset by any of what the two had just done. She bit her lip slightly before she called out to him. "Shadow? Are you okay?"

"Heh", he took a puff of his cigarette and exhaled some of the smoke with his back turned to her. "I feel fucking great."

Well it was official. He definitely wasn't in the same boat as her. She placed her hand on her forehead and looked away from him with a shameful look on her face. "Well that makes one of us..."

Without turning his head, his eyes glanced back at her. "What's up with you?"

"What?" She turned back to him with a unbelievable look on her face. "What's up with me?" She got out of bed and placed her hand on her forehead while she began to nervously pace around the room. "The kissing was one thing but this?" She made her way towards her vanity table and sat back down in her chair and looked down at the table with a panicked expression. "We actually fucked each other! And I've never felt more awful!" She looked away from the table and back towards him who seemed like he didn't understand why she was so upset. "...Don't you feel bad at all?"

He took another puff of his cigarette and exhaled some of the smoked while he carelessly shrugged his shoulders. "Nope...not really."

He just cheated on Rouge and he appeared to not have cared. Was Shadow really like this? She thought that he took his marriage seriously but apparently not. At this point, he was just a selfish scumbag and it angered her that he wasn't taking the situation seriously. She placed her hand on her chest as she gave him an unbelievable look. "You just cheated on Rouge!"

He took the cigarette from his mouth and completely turned to her with an irritated look on his face. "And newsflash! You opened up your legs and cheated on Sonic! We're both guilty motherfuckers, Sally!"

No matter how she wanted to look at it. He was right. She just willingly had sex with him. Both of them played a part in this and what was done was done. She sadly turned away from him and blankly stared at her reflection in the mirror as she took her hand and ran it through her red hair nervously. "I...I don't know what to do..."

"You know what to do", he spoke as he turned back away from her and took another puff of his cigarette. "Like we did back in Kingdom of Acorn, this is our little secret."

It killed her that she had to hide the fact that the both of them had kissed each other and now she was supposed to hide that she and him had sex? The guilt was already killing her but she couldn't bring herself to hurt Sonic. "Sonic..." she spoke sadly under her breath. She was slightly startled when the vibration from her phone slightly shook the table. Her eyes shifted back over to the phone that was set across from her. The vibration was a reminder that she still had an unread text message. "The message...I forgot..." She picked the phone off of the table and held it in her hand. She slightly turned her head back to Shadow. "Hey, Shadow? Did you get some kind of message from Miss Wish?" She watched him flick the remainder of his cigarette off from the balcony window and didn't bother to face her.

"No..."

Sally looked back at the phone in her hands and wondered if Shadow didn't hear anything from Sarah then why would she just message her? "I wonder what's going on. It's not like her to send out messages at this hour."

Shadow slightly turned his head to her and saw her beginning to read the message.

When Sally began to read the message, her eyes immediately widened and her heart raced. She tried to hold her composure and not seem alarmed. With her hand slightly shaking, she placed the phone back down on the table and slowly shifted her eyes over to knife that was set on the other end of the table. She took a deep breath and quickly lunged out towards the knife to grab it. Once she placed her hand on the knife, Shadow's hand had slammed down on top of hers causing her to not move it. When he slammed his hand down onto hers roughly she cried out, "Damn it!"

With an evil smirk on his face, he leaned close to her and growled in a low tone. "Too slow, Princess."

When she looked back at his face, she didn't know how she didn't notice it before. The pupils in his eyes were a lot slimmer and she could see his fangs flashing within his smirk. Now it made sense when she felt that cold and dark aurora from before. It was him. The horrible feeling had came from him. "Damn you! You're not Shadow!"

"I am Shadow. The real Shadow." When he felt her trying to struggle to get his grip off of her, he roughly grabbed her wrist and forcefully threw her body across the room and made her back hit the wall.

While on the floor, she clenched her fists angrily. How could she not have seen this earlier? Everything was so clear now. His strange actions and words should have given everything away. However, she was thrown off that he was still working his work attire and figured his sudden presence was some kind of emergency deal with The Council. Her eyes angrily looked down at the floor, "You...you knew about the message that was sent out for the Council members."

He took the cell phone out of the pocket of his black jeans and held it up towards her. On the screen was the exact same message Sally had received from Sarah. "Sarah's a stupid bitch. She sent out a mass text to the entire Council and forgot to take me off of the forward list."

She looked back up towards him to see him showing her the message on his phone and gritted her teeth angrily. She didn't understand how Sarah could have forgotten to take Shadow's name off of the list. Perhaps she was in a hurry to issue out the message due to everyone's safety. That completely back lashed on her end.

"I knew about the message the moment she sent it out to everyone. It was just sheer luck to run into you when you knew nothing about it at the time."

"Damn you!" She watched him place the phone back in the pocket of his jeans. She didn't understand. What made him want to come after her and right after he apparently turned? "Why did you come here? To kill me?"

His smirk had then turned into a calming yet sinister smile, "If that's what you want..." Before he gave her a chance to stand from the floor, he grabbed her by her wrist and easily tossed her body onto the bed.

Before she could get off from the bed, he had set his body on top of hers and had his hand around her neck. His grip around her was secure but it wasn't gripped around her hard enough to choke her. She slightly flinched when she heard him whisper harshly into her ear.

"No...I already gave you what you wanted..."

She winced as she felt his tongue slowly lick the side of her neck. She just knew he was planning to kill her.

With a small laugh, he faced her and slightly licked his lips. "You know I wasn't lying when I said you tasted sweet. I'll admit it was rather hard for me to keep my shit together while I fucked you. I was so tempted to just start ripping into your flesh with my teeth."

She wanted to try to fight him off of her but at that point what could she do? One wrong move and he could easily break her neck. "Why? Why are you doing this?"

"I just thought I'd do you a favor. You clearly wanted to fuck me." He laughed evilly under his breath, "Hey I was gonna just fucking have my way with you regardless...but you made it so fucking easy for me! I never thought you'd open your legs so willingly. God you're such a fucking slut."

Her eyes shifted from his as his words cut her deeper than anything ever could have.

"I never thought I'd feel bad for that blue idiot. You? A princess? Of what? You're a fucking joke. You're nothing but a cheap fuck."

She flinched when she felt his lips press against the side of her head. "Please stop...", she whimpered.

His grip tightened around her neck before he slammed her head back down on the bed. He looked into her eyes with a cold and menacing glare. "Just know this, the next time I fuck you, it won't be very pleasurable on your end, Princess!" He took his body from hers and grabbed her by her wrist to throw her back down onto the floor.

She fell to the floor harshly and looked up at him walking towards her. She groaned in a low tone, "God you're going to kill me..."

He stood in front of her and placed his hands in the pockets of his black jeans. "Kill you? No...not yet. I actually wanted you to deliver a little message to Sarah and the rest of The Council..." He kneeled down in front of her and made sure he exposed his fangs to her. "Consider this a warning...do not cross The Dark Alliance! And you know damn well not to get in my way! I'm not playing any fucking games and there will be dire consequences if you or anyone else gets ballsy and square up to me!" He took one hand out of his pocket and pointed his finger towards her. "And don't think you're going to get any special treatment! You come at me with your bullshit and I'll be sure to snap that pretty little neck of yours and fuck your dead corpse in front of so called boyfriend! You got that, Princess?"

She gave him a terrified look while her body slightly shook after hearing his threats. She then saw him standing away from her and walking towards the center of the bedroom.

He spun back around to turn to face her while his menacing red eyes locked with hers. "Chaos Control..."

After when she saw the flash of white light, she saw that he had suddenly disappeared and without a trace.

 **Author's Note: Hey, guys! Hope you all have been enjoying these past couple of updates! Next round I am planning to do a chapter bomb. I just have no idea when it'll be up. I doubt I'll post another update before Thanksgiving because my schedule from here on out will be a little hectic. But who knows? I may surprise you guys with a chapter or two.**

 **Anyway, looks like Shadow found Sally and delivered her quite the message. How will The Council plan on stopping him and Rouge? And what does Shadow actually have planned with The Dark Alliance? Find out in a few weeks during the chapter bomb! Chapters 8-11 will hopefully be posted soon! Besides that if I don't see you guys beforehand, have a safe and happy Thanksgiving and I will see you all on the flipside!**

 **In The Next Chapter...**

 **Angel: Da-Darkness-san!?**

 **Luthor: It's about time he showed up...**

 **Shadow: I'll be sure no one stands in our way.**

 **Scourge: This guy irritates me...**

 **Sonic: Sally? Wha? What happened?**

 **Sally:...**


	8. Chapter 8

**CHAPTER 8**

Later in the dark and dreary playroom of The Nest, Angel was sitting on a wooden swing that was attached from the ceiling that was in the far corner of the room. While using the swing to slightly move herself back and forth, her head looked down at the floor while she appeared deep in thought. She slowly took her eyes away from the floor and looked around the quiet and dark room. She took note of Devil who stood next to Dark while he sat in his chair that was in front and center of the room. She continued to observe the others who were also in the room. She spotted the rest of the group who were kinda spread out from each other. Luthor was standing in one corner within the room while he fidgeted by shuffling around some playing cards in his hands. Scourge and Fiona were on the other side of the room with their backs leaned against the wall. Fiona seemed annoyed while she looked at Scourge who appeared impatient. Sky isolated himself from the group of demons and was just sitting on a large box crate that set back towards the room. He seemed like he couldn't take his eyes away from Rouge who stood on the opposite side of the room. She had her back against the wall and her arms crossed while she appeared to have the impression of waiting for something. Angel slowly turned to Dark, "Lord Dark?" She called out in a low tone, "When is he coming?"

Rouge's eyes shifted over to the girl, "He'll be here."

"Yeah?" Scourge spoke in a bitter and impatient tone while he turned to Rouge. "When? Next year?" He turned back to Fiona who stood beside him, "Can't believe we're standing around and twiddling our thumbs over this guy. I mean what the hell makes him so special anyway?" Before he could hear Fiona reply to him, Dark had spoken up.

Dark narrowed his red eyes over to him. "The fact that he was brought into this world by my blood makes him very special."

The group focused their attention to Dark when he had spoken.

Dark continued, "He's already gifted with Chaos powers and with my blood coursing through his body, it's just an added bonus. No one can match his level of power. Except for yours truly of course."

Scourge shifted his eyes from him and scoffed under his breath. "Whatever..." He didn't believe that Shadow was as strong as anyone else claimed him to be. He wanted to see it all for himself.

Rouge narrowed her eyes towards the green hedgehog in annoyance. Just from how he was acting, she knew that he thought very less of him. "You dare question Darkness' power?"

Scourge shifted his eyes over to her in annoyance and carelessly shrugged his shoulders. "I'm just calling bullshit front and center. I won't believe he's as tough as you all think he is until I see it all for myself."

It was obvious Scourge had no intention of believing in Shadow's power and least of all respecting him and that had rubbed Rouge all the wrong way. "You sure do talk a lot of shit don't you?"

Scourge took note of Rouge trying to stand up to him and he was more than willing to accept her challenge towards him. He took his back from against the wall and slightly held his hand up in the air as he looked towards her angrily. "And what? You gonna do something about it, cupcake?"

Fiona saw what was taking place between the two and she decided to try to put a stop to it before everything completely gotten out of hand. She placed her hand on his shoulder to try to hold him back from confronting Rouge. "Scourge, for God's sake..."

His eyes flashed back to her as he shoved her hand away from his shoulder, "No! If she wants to stick up for this guy who mind you hasn't shown his face as of yet! Then by all means!" He flashed his eyes back towards Rouge while his fists were clenched, "I'm gonna get my point across whether you like it or not!"

Devil's eyes anxiously flashed back and forth between Scourge and Rouge. He took note that everyone else seemed uncomfortable about their situation taking place besides Dark. Dark didn't seem to care what was happening. Whe he saw Rouge taking a step forwards towards him until they all heard a sudden male voice coming into the room.

"You're rather impatient aren't you, Scourge?"

Everyone froze when they all heard the mysterious male voice fill the room. They turned and saw a black and red hedgehog slowly making his out of the shadows and towards the center of the room.

When Angel caught sight of him, her eyes shot wide open. "Da-Darkness-san?" With a huge blush on her face, she darted off of the swing she sat on and ran behind Devil.

Devil slightly turned to her who was shyly taking cover behind him. He slightly arched a brow towards her. He spoke in a low tone towards her, "...Angel?"

With her hands placed on his shoulders, she continued to duck behind him as she happily stared at the dark hedgehog from afar.

When her eyes fell upon him, Rouge made her way over to him and clung to his body happily.

Sky's eyes shifted over at the dark hedgehog stood in the center of the room. He stood there and observed his appearance. He cold tell just by looking at him at a dark essence was radiating from him. 'So this is him huh?'

While still fidgeting with the playing cards in his hands, Luthor scanned Shadow's appearance as well. Not much had changed about him except for the fangs he flashed while he spoke and the menacing look in his eyes. 'Darkness...in the flesh...'

"So you've finally come, Darkness?" Dark had spoke.

Shadow directed his attention towards Dark while he had his hand placed on Rouge's waist while she rested her head against his chest. "Sorry I'm a little late. Had to take care of a few personal matters. Besides, it did take me awhile to find this place." His eyes slowly scanned around the dark and seemingly depressing play room. "Who knew that this run down orphanage was the famous Nest?"

Luthor had stopped fidgeting with the playing cards he held and pointed his finger up towards the ceiling. "Fun fact. This orphanage is abandoned because there were constant reportings of this place being haunted." He slightly shrugged his shoulders while he had an amused look on his face, "Apparently some children were found killed here years ago and now legend has it, their ghosts roam around this place. I find it quite interesting."

Fiona scoffed under her breath and crossed her arms as she didn't believe Luthor's story. "Ghosts? Yeah right", she spoke in a careless tone.

Dark directed his attention back to Shadow, "In any matter, It's so good to see you and after all this time."

Shadow made a slight nod towards him while making a small smirk, "Likewise, father..."

Just hearing him refer Dark as his father had took Sky by a slight surprise. He already knew Dark did sort of make him his father. Without him injecting blood into Shadow's body at birth, it did kind of make them have a father and son sort of relationship. It was still strange to hear him refer to Dark as his father.

Dark continued, "With you back on the side of demons, there is no way we can lose against The Council and the rest of these foolish mortals."

While Dark continued to speak, Rouge looked up at Shadow and had given him a slight yet evil smirk as she continued to cling to him.

Dark placed a finger under his chin, "Especially with your knowledge of The Council and your extraordinary power. I couldn't have asked for anyone more fitting to lead us to victory."

Scourge's mouth hung open as he heard Dark's words. He couldn't help but to become confused. Shadow was their enemy and now everyone was welcoming him to the alliance with open arms. He knew he was now supposedly on their side but deep down, he still couldn't bring himself to trust him. "What!" He pointed towards Shadow, "He's gonna lead us to victory?"

Shadow could tell out of everyone in the group, he was going to have the most problems out of Scourge. Even though the two encountered each other only a few times, he was aware of what kind of personality he had. He was arrogant, destructive, and he hated not being in control. He spun around to him and pointed to himself, "You heard him. I call all the shots here so that means listening to me. Got that?"

"How dare you!" Scourge took his back against the wall and completely spun his body to turn to him. "I don't know who you think you are walking up in here and trying to act like some kind of big shot! I don't take well to newcomers especially when they were trying to kill us all not even twenty four hours ago!"

When Rouge felt Shadow remove her from him, she knew that he would try to fight Scourge for lashing out at him. She watched he stepped towards Scourge.

Shadow watched as Scourge began to step towards him as well. "So you think I'm all talk huh? You don't think I have what it takes to be top demon around here?"

He gave him a hateful glare as he stepped over to him. "Pretty sure you have more bark than bite, stripes. Remember you weren't shit without your demon powers."

A small and amused laugh had escaped him, "What? Do you think you're stronger than me or something. I would love for you to prove this to me."

"You're really asking for it..."

Devil watched as the two confronted one another and their bodies were only inches away. He hated seeing a situation spiral out of control. He figured everyone was too uneasy to break the two up so he thought it was all up to him to do so.

When Dark saw Devil taking a step forward, he held his hand out in front of him to prevent him from interfering. He watched as he looked up at him in confusion, "Now, now...if he wants to challenge him then by all means."

When Devil saw that Dark wasn't too concerned with the situation, he decided to take a step back and watch everything take place.

Fiona sighed heavily and murmured under her breath, "Damn it, Scourge..." She wanted to believe that Scourge would be able to handle the situation and he would be okay. However this would be the first time the two would fight each other with Shadow at full power.

With his fist clenched, Scourge swung towards Shadow to punch him but with his swift movements, he saw that he had easily dodged his punch by stepping to the side. He took his other fist and swung at him but he had again missed. When he came at him again with both fists, in a blink of an eye he had suddenly vanished in front of him. His mouth hung open as he couldn't believe what he had just saw. "Wha-what?" He was suddenly kicked in his back and was knocked down onto the floor. While laying on the floor, he watched as Shadow confronted him. He looked looked up at the dark hedgehog who had an evil smirk on his lips. "What the hell?"

Fiona couldn't believe her eyes as she witnessed the sight as well. "What...was that?"

"Chaos Control..." Devil spoke in a low voice as he observed Shadow's power.

Fiona turned to both Devil and Dark with a confused look on her face. "Huh?"

With a small and devious look on his face, Dark began to explain, "Chaos Control is Darkness' all star move. He can warp himself through time and space. He even has the power to slow down time."

With an uneasy look on her face, Fiona turned back to Shadow who had confronted Scourge. "That's crazy..."

Sky was also amazed by Shadow's unique power. 'He can do all of that if his demon powers are active? Amazing. He really is strong...'

Luthor placed a finger under his chin as he witnessed the fight between Shadow and Scourge. 'Remarkable...'

Shadow looked down at the green hedgehog who had still laid on the floor. "You still wanna come at me, snot?"

Before Scourge could say or do anything, Shadow suddenly picked his body from the floor by grabbing him by his black leather jacket and slammed his back against the wall that was behind them.

"Or have you already had enough?" He asked in a low growl while he made sure he exposed his fangs to him.

Scourge gripped his hands around his wrist and angrily glared towards him. "Okay I get it! You're tough! Now get your hands off of me!"

With a small laugh escaping him, he forcefully threw his body back down onto the floor. "Consider that a warning, snot. Don't push me." When he calmly walked away from him, he heard Fiona calling out Scourge's name in worry.

"Scourge!"

When Rouge saw Fiona rush over to Scourge to see if he was okay, she walked up to Shadow and placed her hands on his chest. "That's showing them, baby."

Dark's smirk widened after he saw Shadow demonstrating his power to the group. "It's good to know you still have full control over your powers. With you on our side, we can not lose."

Shadow made a small nod towards him. "Take it from me, Lord Dark. I assure you no one will stand in our way", he spoke with a sly look on his face.

While the rest of them seemed to have nervous looks on their faces, Angel continued to stand behind Devil with a huge blush on her face. She sighed happily as she stared at Shadow. "Darknes-san..."

Later, Sonic flung the door open to Sally's bedroom with a content look on his face after having a satisfied snack. "Hey, Sal! I'm back!" He paused and stood at the doorway in confusion when he saw Sally getting fully dressed and frantically rushing around the room. What really caught his eye was that she was wearing her work attire. He figured something had happened. "Uh, Sal? What's going on?"

She froze in her tracks when she heard his voice from the doorway. She tried to have a somewhat calm expression on her face but deep down her heart raced as her eyes laid upon him. "Sonic? You're back?"

"Sal?" He slowly stepped over to her and studied her seemingly alarmed and panicked expression. "...What's up?"

Her eyes shifted from his and turned to the blue denim jacket that was setting on the back end of the chair that was set in from of her vanity table. She took the jacket off of the chair and began to nervously put it on while her eyes strayed away from Sonic. "It's Shadow. His demonic powers have been restored."

He arched an eyebrow towards her while he still gave off a confused look, "Restored? So wait...does that mean..."

She made a slight nod while she buttoned up her jacket, "Yes as of right now, he's no longer on our side." She stormed passed him and began to rush towards the door. "I have to go to Tech City. The Council members are needed at Miss Wish's office."

"Wha? Wait a minute, Sal!" He spun around and grabbed her wrist preventing her from leaving the room. He watched her spin back around to him and flinch while she had. She wasn't just rushing to get to Tech City. Just by her body movements and facial expressions, she seemed completely on edge. He even noticed that her body slightly shook. "Babe, slow down. You seem so frazzled. What exactly happened? You look like you've just seen a ghost." He took his hand from her wrist and slowly reached out to her to gently pull back some of her hair away from her face. Even when he reached out to her, he saw her slightly flinch once again. "...Sally?"

She tried her hardest not to make her expressions and reactions any obvious towards him but she honestly couldn't help it. In her mind, constant flashbacks of what happened between her and Shadow filled her thoughts over and over again. She quickly shifted her eyes from his and bit her lip.

He saw her constantly avoiding eye contact and knew something was wrong. "...Did...did something happen?" He slightly scanned the room to see if he saw anything out of place and there were signs that something had taken place. Some of the things that were on her vanity table were on the floor. Such as papers, hair brushes, and other things. There was also a part in the wall that was slightly caved in. It appeared that something hard was thrown into it. And lastly he caught sight of the bed. As he recalled the bed was made when he left but now it was shown that it had been used. His heart raced as he continued to look around the room.

Sally turned back to him and immediately saw the shocked expression on his face. She knew that he figured something had happened. "So-Sonic..."

"...He was here wasn't he?" He turned back to her and gently placed his hand on her cheek to make her look at him. "What did he do? Did he hurt you?"

At this point, she didn't want anyone to know about what had happened between her and Shadow. Most of all Sonic. She didn't want him to know and she didn't know if she ever did. She slightly and nervously shook her head, "N-no he didn't touch me. He only threatened me..."

He rose an eyebrow while he became even more confused. It was obvious she wasn't going to bluntly say what had happened between the two. He didn't see any strange and visible marks or bruises. So what did he actually do to her? "He threatened you? Sally, I-I don't understand..."

"It's not of importance", she took his hand away from her cheek and started to rush back towards the door. "I need to get to Tech City immediately."

When he saw her about to walk out of the room, he didn't care where she was off too. He was determined to go along with her. "Sally, wait! I'm coming with you."

She spun back around to him, "Sonic, this meeting is for Council members only..." Her words trailed off as he suddenly spoke out.

"I don't care! I won't let you go alone especially if Shadow is still out there somewhere!"

She sighed heavily and knew no matter how much she tried, Sonic was stubborn and wouldn't listen especially if he became upset. "Fine but we need to leave now."

He made a nod and watched her rush out of the room. Before he followed after her, he paused at the doorway and spun around to look back at the bedroom. Despite the other signs of the struggle that had happened within the room. He couldn't take his mind away from the bed. The pillows were on the floor and the bed sheets and blankets were halfway hanging off of the bed. He couldn't shake the feeling that Shadow did a lot more than just simply threaten her. He was slightly startled out of his thoughts when he heard Sally's voice call out to him.

"Sonic?" Sally called from downstairs, "You coming?"

He stepped over to the doorway while slowly shifting his eyes away from the messy bed. "...Yeah...I'm coming..." He spoke in a low tone before turning his back and leaving the bedroom closing the door behind him.

 **Author's Note: Hey, guys! Sorry for not updating. Been super busy and I'll probably continue to be until Christmas is over. After that, everything should be back to normal on my end. But in the meantime I thought I would post a chapter and update on what's going on. On 12/17 set the date! The official chapter bomb will be a go! So get pumped! Also thank you guys for your amazing patience and support. It means a lot to me. Anyways, see you guys on the flipside!**

 **In The Next Chapter...**

 **Amethyst: Shadow and Rouge are both a dangerous threat. What do we do?**

 **Leon: We should eliminate them at all costs...**

 **Luke: Wha? Wait a minute!**

 **Sally:...**

 **Espio: What? No!**

 **Devil:...What exactly do you want?**

 **Shadow: I want to be the next supreme!**


	9. Chapter 9

**CHAPTER 9**

Meanwhile, Shadow and Devil sat across from each other at a small black table that was sitting in the center of a small white room they were in. This room was a bright and well lit room. The walls and floors were pure white. It was very quiet within and outside of the room.

Devil's eyes were looking down at a chess game mat that was placed over the surface of the table in front of him. He watched as he saw Shadow reach down at a chess piece and move it on the game mat. His eyes glanced up towards him and then back down at the game mat. "Strange that you would invite me to play a friendly game of chess with you, Darkness." He slowly reached his hand out began to move his chess piece on the game mat.

Shadow watched as he move a chess piece on the game mat. He calmly rested his back against the black chair he had sat in while he looked towards him with a small smirk. "What can I say? I kinda like you, kid."

He took his eyes away from the game mat and looked back up at him. "Well I figured you didn't think too much of me especially after what you did to Scourge." He remembered Scourge trying to stand up to Shadow and failing to do so when Shadow demonstrated his powers to not only him but to the entire group of demons.

He slightly scoffed under his breath and crossed his arms, "Scourge was out of line and needed to be put back in his place."

He slightly arched an eyebrow towards him and then glanced back down at the game mat. "I can tell you're the type of demon determined to get what you want."

"...And what makes you say that?" He asked as he watched him reach out towards a chess piece.

He placed the chess piece he held in his hand and set it back down onto the game mat. "...That chipmunk for example..."

With a small pause, he looked back up at him with a sly smile on his face. He knew right then he had followed him and witnessed the heated session that was shared between him and Sally. "Heh, did you enjoy the show?"

He slowly looked back up towards him and made eye contact with him. "...You knew I followed you. Didn't you?"

"I sensed your demonic energy a mile away. I knew you were closeby the entire time." He arched an eyebrow towards him, "What? You don't trust me enough that you had to follow me?"

Devil leaned his back against the chair he sat in and crossed his arms as he firmly looked back at him. He was beginning to think maybe Shadow inviting him to play a friendly game of chess wasn't just for the hell of it. He knew he had gotten caught when he followed him and Shadow clearly wanted answers on why. "I didn't know what you were up to so I got suspicious. I had no idea you would go out of your way just to screw around with a useless mortal such as her."

While his eyes shifted from his, a small and deep chuckle escaped him.

"So why? Why the sudden interest in this girl? If you don't mind me asking." It didn't make sense to him. He was supposedly in love with Rouge so what made him do such a random act?

He couldn't help but to wonder why Devil had gotten so curious and concerned about what was happening in his personal life. Perhaps he was just trying to look out for Rouge. But the question was why? He turned back to him with the same sly look on his face. "She wanted it and I gave it to her. It was only fair."

Devil arched an eyebrow, "...Fair?" He repeated in a tone that seemed like it struck a nerve.

Shadow had made the same look Devil made towards him, "You're the one to talk eh, Devil?"

He paused for a moment as he tried to figure out what he had meant. "...What do you mean?"

"Rouge..." His eyes glanced down towards the table and stared at one of the chess pieces. "She's been charmed."

His heart suddenly skipped a beat. He knew the entire time that Rouge was under a mind control. "...You knew?"

He shifted his eyes back towards him and placed his hand on the side of his face. "It's pretty obvious. When mortals are turned into demons, they're not evil or anything. If Rouge was turned into a demon, she would still be aware of everything. The only thing is she would be driven mad by her hunger for mortal flesh." He made a slight sigh, "With her being under your control, she has no fucking personality whatsoever. She's a complete slave to whatever order she's been given. She's a fucking walking puppet."

He began to become uneasy. Shadow knew all along what was going on with Rouge. Was he angered by it? Upset? He couldn't exactly tell because he kept the same devious look on his face. "...When I turned her, I knew she would be quite relentless. So I charmed her to make her mission less complicated to her. I'm technically her master and controller but I gave her the order to be under your control as well. Since you are her husband and all..."

He slightly arched an eyebrow, "Obviously. Otherwise she wouldn't jump so quick to start sucking my dick if I told her to." He once again rested his back against his chair and crossed his arms. "She's a fucking tool."

Judging his tone, he sounded like he wanted him to lift the mind control. "If you want me to cancel the mind control, I can do that."

"No", he spoke quickly. "Let her stay a slave. With her being in this state, she'll be quite of use to me."

He had given him an uneasy look. He wanted her to stay brainwashed but why? He had a feeling he would end up doing something God awful to her. "...But she is still your wife. Do you even care about her?"

His eyes wandered down to one of the chess pieces. "Rouge? No not really." He reached out to one of the chess pieces he was eyeing and moved it on the game mat. "When I'm done with her, either I'll tell her to jump off a fucking bridge or kill her my own self."

He sat there in shock and gave him an unbelievable look. It was all clear now. He didn't care about Rouge at all. What was his plans for her? "...What? Is this...is this because of that chipmunk? Are you planning to turn her?" Perhaps he had feelings for Sally and wanted her to remain by his side instead. If so, it would definitely make sense on why he went to her house to simply have sex with her.

"Hell no", he spoke while a small amusing laugh escaping him. "She's as useless to me as Rouge is." His eyes shifted back to him, "The only reason I went after her is to simply fuck with her and nothing more. When the time is right, I'll fucking kill her too."

Devil continued to give Shadow a nervous look. He made it clear that he didn't have an interest in Sally. The only interest he had was to fuck with her emotions. He was quite a manipulative and sadistic demon that was for certain.

Shadow saw the uneasy looks he was giving him and was amused by it. He was putting him on edge and he loved the feeling of seeing him threatened by him. "You really don't get it do you? Shadow may care for these fucking bitches but me on the other hand could care fucking less."

It was official. He didn't care about anyone and anything. If that was the case, then what was he really after? "So it's clear you don't care about anyone as long as you get what you want."

He said nothing and continued to give him a devious look.

"...So what do you really want?"

"What I want..." He took his back away from the chair and leaned forward towards him while having a wide and evil smirk on his face. "...Is to become the next supreme."

He arched an eyebrow along with a look of confusion, "...Supreme?"

He slightly shrugged his shoulders and held out his hand towards him. "Come on, Devil. Dark's been around for centuries. Don't you think it's time for someone new to rule the demon realm?"

Devil stared at him with a look of disbelief on his face. He wanted to be the next superior over all demons. But if that was the case, what would happen with Dark?

While Devil sat across from him in complete silence and shock, he continued. "He just sits on his ass and watch the rest of those S ranked demons back in Azthura just run around like fucking idiots. He's lost control. He's lost control a long fucking time ago."

"So...what? You're just gonna take out Lord Dark?" He asked while he held out his hand in a confusing gesture towards him.

He made a nod and crossed his arms, "In due time. And once that happens, the entire demon realm will be under my control."

He didn't understand. Why was he telling him all of this? Did he perhaps want him to slip up and expose him or did he have some kind of plan for him as well? "...Why are you telling me this? Aren't you worried I'll relay this back to Dark?"

A small and amused laugh had escaped him. "You wouldn't do that. You're obviously the type of guy to sneak around and gather information." He placed a finger under his chin as his eyes locked with his. "You know a lot of dirty secrets don't you, Devil?"

He sat there with his eyes still staring into his and his heart racing inside of his chest. It was true. He knew a lot on what was going on but he chose to keep his mouth shut about a lot of it.

"And just when you thought you knew everything about me, you don't."

He watched as he stood from his chair and rested his body against the table to lean closer to him.

"This is only the first step to what I have planned. This is all just the beginning. I'll become the next supreme and there will be no one who can stop me. Not even Dark himself." He picked up a chess piece and used it to knock one of Devil's pieces off of the table and onto the floor.

Devil's eyes shifted over to the chess piece that was laying on the floor and then turned back to him.

He took his body away from the table and placed a hand in the pocket of his jeans as he started to walk towards the door of the room. "Now excuse me while I go attend to more important matters..." He placed his hand on the doorknob of the door and turned back to Devil with a demented look on his face. "Like fucking the shit out my little puppet."

After hearing him laughing evilly under his breath, he spun around and watched as he walked out the door and shut the door behind him. He slightly gritted his teeth as he stared at the door Shadow just walked out of. 'Perhaps having his powers reawakened was a mistake...'

Later in the large and dim lit conference room of Sarah's office, Espio tiredly and nervously sat at a large brown table. His eyes shifted over to the rest of the Council members that sat around the table. His eyes caught sight of Luke who sat beside him, Leon, Amethyst, Sally, and Sarah herself who had sat on the far end of the table. Sonic was also present in the room. He stood next to the doorway with his back leaned against the wall and his arms crossed. He took note of everyone's silent yet nervous looks on their faces. The thought of everyone's view on the situation kept going through his mind and he just knew the worst was going to happen. He slightly rubbed the side of his head with his hand in frustration, 'God I feel sick to my stomach...' He was slightly startled when he heard the door to the room opening. He turned and saw Sonic who stood next to the door slightly move to the side allowing someone to come into the room. His eyes widened when he saw a male yellow lion wearing a black military uniform walk into the room. His mouth along with Luke's dropped at the sight of him.

Luke leaned over to Espio and whispered over to him while not taking his eyes away from the lion who walked into the room. "Hey isn't that Commander Grey?"

Espio saw the lion walking over to stand beside Sarah and arched an eyebrow angrily. "Wha? Trevor? What the..." He stood from his chair and held his hand out towards the lion while his eyes fixed angrily upon Sarah. "He's here? What the hell is this?"

Sarah saw Espio's uprising anger and wasn't really surprised how upset he had gotten over seeing the sight of Trevor. "Espio, calm down. Commander Grey is only here to hear our intake on the situation."

Espio angrily slammed his hands down onto the surface of the table. "This is bullshit! I thought we weren't going to get the military involved!"

"We're not. As of yet anyway. This is only a precaution", Sarah had explained.

Trevor saw Espio's anger and tried to calm him down as well. He placed his hands on his chest and gave him a sympathetic look. "I don't want to get involved either, Espio. But under Miss Wish's orders, I have to be present for whatever action is decided."

Espio stood there in silence with his eyes continuing to glare at the lion.

Trevor sadly sighed as he realized that Espio was clearly angry from the fact that he was there at the meeting. "Please understand. Shadow is my friend too but...if he is a danger to everyone around him then I won't have a choice..."

Luke saw Espio still coldly glaring at Trevor and gently tugged on his blue shirt to let him know he should sit back down. "Come on, Espio", Luke spoke in a low and calming tone. "Cool it. Let's see what is decided first."

With him slowly hesitating to do so, he finally decided to sit back down in his seat to await everyone's decision.

When Sarah saw Espio starting to calm down, she decided to get the meeting started. She took a deep breath before she began speaking. "I know it's been a long night for everyone, but I'm glad everyone is here. Now we can finally get started."

Amethyst placed her hand on her chest as she directed her attention over to Sarah in worry. "Miss Wish? What exactly is going on?"

Leon who sat beside her turned to her lazily with his head resting on his hand. "Shadow is a full fledged killing machine again that's what's going on."

She turned to him with a shock look on her face and her hand on her mouth. "Oh no!"

Sally's eyes shifted over to Espio. She wanted answers on everything. What happened? What could've caused this? She knew something drastic had to happen. She knew deep down that Shadow would've fought harder to prevent this from happening in the first place. "Espio, what the hell happened?"

The entire room turned to Espio and awaited for him to explain on what had happened.

With the entire room having their attention on him, Espio felt like he couldn't look at anyone. He leaned his back against the chair and directed his eyes down on the surface of the table. He let out a sigh before he spoke. "...The Dark Alliance kidnapped Rouge and made her a demon so they could get close to Shadow..."

"...Rouge?" Sarah spoke blankly.

Espio slightly shook his head as he continued, "They knew...they knew he wouldn't think about killing her. Let alone hurt her. And unfortunately they were right." He took his eyes away from the table and looked back up at the group, "He dropped his guard and she...got him..."

Luke placed a finger under his chin as he heard what had happened. "So it was Rouge. She turned him..."

Amethyst bit her lip nervously, "Rouge? Oh no..."

"So if we didn't have Shadow to just worry about, we have Rouge too", Leon spoke bitterly.

Espio's eyes looked back down at the table in guilt it appeared. "I should've known it was all a trap in the first place but I..."

Luke saw the guilt on Espio's face while his eyes looked down at the table. "Hey don't beat yourself up about this, Espio. It was out of your control."

Sarah made a small nod as she agreed with him. She even knew that when it came to Rouge, Shadow was always extremely protective of her. "He's right. What's done is done. There is no going back now."

Amethyst turned to Sarah and wondered what was going through her mind. "So what do we do? Do we kill them both?"

Before anyone could say anything, Leon had quickly spoken up. "I say we do it. It would definitely make things easier."

Luke shifted his eyes over to Amethyst, Leon, and Sarah who all had convincing looks on their faces after hearing Leon's comment. "Wha? Wait a minute..."

After hearing Leon's comment, Sonic's eyes shifted over to Sally. He saw her exchanging the same look on her face as Leon and Amethyst.

Sarah slightly rubbed her chin while she thought about Leon's words, "With them both in this state, they are quite dangerous at this point. And we've dealt with Shadow in this state before. Him alone will be quite the challenge."

Espio's heart raced. Was she actually considering to kill them both? She wasn't even considering to try to help them. "What? Sarah, no..."

Sarah looked back towards Espio who had a shocked look on his face. "I'm sorry, Espio. I know you want to save your friends but with no other option, it's them or us."

Leon made a nod and slammed his fist down onto the table, "We couldn't trust Shadow from the start and we all knew this. Having him on the Council was a mistake, Sarah."

Amethyst placed a hand on her face as she directed her attention to Sarah, "He's right..."

Luke couldn't believe what everyone was saying, they weren't set for attempting to save Shadow and Rouge at all. "Wait a fucking minute! You all are being completely drastic here!"

Amethyst turned to Luke a sympathetic look, "Luke, there is no other choice..." She and everyone else watched as Espio quickly stood up from his seat and slammed his hands down onto the table to get everyone's attention.

"Yes there is!" Espio quickly shouted. "We have another option we can turn to!"

Everyone suddenly directed their attention over to Espio as they were curious on what he had in mind to stop Shadow and Rouge.

Once everyone's eyes fell upon him, Espio spoke again. "Nails. Rouge's older sister. She's a witch and she knows a lot about black magic and the dark arts", he explained. "If there's anyone who can help it's her."

Amethyst placed a finger under her chin in interest, "...A witch?"

Leon figured Espio was trying to use every excuse possible to try to change everyone's minds. He had a rather annoyed look on his face. "What are you trying to say? This witch has the answer to restore both Shadow and Rouge's humanity?"

Espio paused and knew deep down that even Nails could even save Shadow and Rouge but he still wanted to cling to some kind of hope. "I-I can't be for certain, but she'll find a way. I know she will."

Trevor turned to Sarah who was appearing deep in thought. "I think it's worth a shot, Miss Wish."

Sarah took a moment and thought Espio's plan over. She was even doubtful that this would work but like Espio, she would hate to have to end up killing both Shadow and Rouge. She was open to any option to try to avoid such a drastic step. She sighed and directed her attention towards Espio. "...Very well. If Nails can find a way to save them, then I'm on board for it..." She had then heard relieved sighs coming from both Espio and Luke. "However", she quickly spoke while she raised a finger. "If Shadow and Rouge become a serious threat, they will be eliminated no matter what. So this witch better work and fast. The fate of this city and possibly the world is hanging in the balance."

After her words, the room was filled with silence and uneasy looks on everyone's faces.

Later in a small and dark bedroom located within The Nest, Rouge was laying on a messy bed within the room. She laid on top of the blankets leaving her bare body completely exposed. She rested her head on her hand while she looked across the dark room. A small yet sly smile formed on her lips as she stared at the black hedgehog who had his back turned to her while he was getting dressed. "So", she began. "Since Lord Dark made you in charge and all, you got any ideas in mind?"

"Oh I've got plenty..." he spoke as he placed his glove back on his hand.

She arched an eyebrow in interest, "Oh really? So, what's the first order of business then?" After he had gotten finished getting dressed, she watched as he spun around to turn to her and started to walk towards her.

"You know I've been thinking..."

"About what?"

Once he stood in front of her, he took his hand and leaned it against the headboard of the bed while he directed his attention towards her. "It's a little lonely with it just being us wouldn't you say?"

"What are you saying, love?" She watched as he lightly pushed her over onto her back and set his body on top of hers.

He gently pinned her wrists down onto the bed and leaned over to talk to her in a soft tone. "Think about it. What's the one beautiful thing we both made with each other?"

She turned to him with her lips inches away from his, "...Do you mean..."

"That's right, babe", he spoke with his forehead pressed against hers. "Let's get our son."

 **Author's Note: And it's on! I know I'm a little early but I knew I wouldn't be able to get to the computer tomorrow in time to update so I'm a day ahead. But yeah! If anyone's been wondering why Rouge has been acting even weirder since she's been turned, she's been charmed! Now she's a complete slave to The Dark Alliance! Also seems that Shadow has big plans! Wonder how this will effect The Dark Alliance and the world? Tune in Tuesday for chapter 9 coming at ya! Hope you guys enjoy this week full of updates! And I will see you all on the flipside!**

 **In The Next Chapter...**

 **Shadow: It's pathetic. The life my other half chooses to live...**

 **Risa: I knew it. I knew we couldn't trust him.**

 **Freya: We can save the boss. I know we can.**

 **Sonic: Sally, why won't you tell me?**

 **Sally: Tell you what?**

 **Sonic: Tell me that bastard raped you!**

 **Sally:...**


	10. Chapter 10

**Author's Note: Before anyone starts reading...TRIGGER WARNING! I personally think the scene isn't very dark, but I don't want anyone to get upset or offended from the abusive scene between Shadow and Rouge. I just thought I'd give you guys a heads up. Anyway hope you guys enjoy!**

 **CHAPTER 10**

Later as the night progressed, it was getting earlier in the morning. The sky was getting lighter as it was a sure sign of daylight approaching. Rouge watched as papers, clothes, and other things fly across the dark bedroom of their home. She was sitting on the made up bed of the bedroom as she casually watched Shadow practically tear the entire room apart. With her legs crossed, she rose an eyebrow when she saw him rip out a drawer from the dresser and slam it down onto the floor angrily. An amused smirk formed on her lips, "Calm down already. There obviously isn't any clues here that will lead us in the direction of where Spike is." She watched as he turned to her and pointed his finger towards her angrily as he stepped over to her.

"I want my son", he growled in a low tone.

She sighed carelessly, "I don't know why you're acting surprised he isn't here. He wasn't at Nails' apartment and it was a stupid move to try to look here of all places." She glanced around the dark bedroom. "I'm surprised the Council or anyone doesn't have this place on lock down. But then again, I guess they figured we wouldn't show up at our own house." She turned to Shadow once again and crossed her arms, "My guess is he's at the Chaotix."

He slightly shook his head as he disagreed. "Just like everywhere else we searched, it's too obvious. Someone has him in their home. I know it."

She placed a finger to her chin as she thought of the two people who first came to mind. "How about Espio and Tonya?"

He again shook his head, "That would be too obvious. We have to place ourselves in their situation. They're not gonna leave Spike with someone who has constantly watched over him. It's someone we would least expect."

She placed her hands on her hips and sighed. "Well that really narrows our odds doesn't it? Considering we're close with everyone at the Chaotix."

He lowly scoffed under his breath and shifted his eyes away from her in annoyance.

"I don't get it. We're wasting time here." She stood from the bed and took her fist to punch it into the palm of her hand. "Let's just go to the Chaotix and beat the answers out of them."

He slowly turned back to her, "That's a trap waiting to happen, sweetie. Don't you think they're all expecting us to show up there so they can fucking blow our heads to Hell?"

She held her hands out in confusion and lowered them beside her waist in slight frustration. "Okay then. What should we do?"

"...Don't worry about that." His eyes had then slowly scanned Rouge's revealing bodysuit, "We'll figure it out."

She caught sight of him staring at her and figured he either had a plan dealing with her gunsuit or he just wanted to have sex with her all over again. She slightly licked her lips as she gave him a seductive look. "...You have some kind of plan or something, sweetie?"

With a smirk on his face, he turned away from her. "Don't I always?" Once he turned his back to her, he suddenly felt her cling to him from behind and slowly run her hands across his chest.

A small and seductive giggle escaped her, "Are you planning on giving Spike a sibling perhaps?"

He slightly scoffed under his breath when he thought she figured he planned for them to have another child together. "Don't be stupid." He spun around to turn to her again while she stroked her hands around his upper arms. "Before my powers were completely restored, it was difficult to even conceive him. But now that you and I are both full fledged demons, there's no chance in Hell we can spawn another child of our own. Spike is and always will be our only son. That's why it's important we find him." He reached his hand out towards her and began to caress the side of her face, "And when we do, we'll make him the demon he was born to become."

She saw him take his hand away from her face and slowly pace around the room. She placed her hands on her hips, "After he drinks your blood, he'll be one of the strongest demons in the realm." She made a small laugh as her eyes glanced him up and down, "Just like his father."

"Damn straight", his eyes then caught sight of a picture that was set on the small table that was on his side of the bed. He walked over and picked the picture up from the table and stared at it. It was a picture of him and the rest of The Chaotix team. Vector was shown in the picture so it was taken before Freya had joined the team. He glared at the picture and then angrily threw it towards the wall, smashing the frame of it when it hit the wall.

Rouge turned to him and saw him angrily looking at the broken picture frame on the floor.

"It's pathetic", he spoke in a bitter tone. "The life my other half chooses to live..."

Rouge didn't know what had suddenly gotten him so upset. Perhaps him seeing the picture had brought up bitter memories for him.

"I refuse to go back to pretending to be someone I'm not for weak mortals who don't value their pathetic lives", he growled under his breath while he clenched his fists. "I'll make sure they're dead. Every last one."

Rouge had then made a small yet amused chuckle as she walked over to him and leaned her body against his while his back was turned to her. "So serious. You know you're pretty cute when you're mad." She flinched when he had suddenly grabbed her by her wrist and slammed her body against the wall angrily. She had then found herself pinned against the wall with her eyes locking with his.

"Shut up", he growled angrily while he made sure he exposed his fangs to her.

Though he came off as threatening to her, she still found his reaction towards her pretty amusing. "My, my you're just a ball of fire tonight aren't you?" She slightly groaned as his grip around her wrist tightened.

His growled into her ear still full of uprising anger, "When I tell you to shut your mouth, you shut your fucking mouth. Got that?"

She let out a small gasp and groaned as his grip around her wrist continued to tighten. "You're hurting me", she spoke in a low tone almost in a scared voice.

He then took his hand away from her wrist and roughly grabbed her around her lower waist. He continued to speak into her ear while his body pressed against hers, "Don't give me that shit. You love it when I hurt you."

It seemed just by hearing the sounds of his voice had suddenly calmed her. She let out another small gasp as he roughly grabbed her by her butt. "Yes", she spoke in an aroused tone. "I can't get enough."

"I know you can't." At this point he knew the mind control along with her uprising arousal had taken her over. She was literally his slave and he loved every aspect of that fact. He took his hand and stroked his fingers through her hair until he roughly grabbed it and held her head back to expose her neck. He wrapped his hand around her neck and spoke softly towards her. "Fucking slut", he spoke with a smirk. "But you're my fucking slut." He took his hand away from her neck and forcefully pushed her down to the floor where she was at Shadow's waist. "Who the fuck do you serve?"

With him still grabbing her hair, she looked up towards him while she replied, "I serve you, baby."

"Damn right", he spoke before he pushed her head towards his waist. "Now suck my fucking dick, slut", he firmly ordered. Soon after he felt his jeans being undone and then felt his rock hard member being placed into her mouth. He felt her tongue licking around his entire shaft while having it inside of her mouth. He slightly bit his lip as he felt her moist tongue licking against him. When he began to forcefully move her head back and forth, small moans escaped him as he felt the friction from her mouth stroke against him. "That's it", he slightly panted. "Deep throat it."

As she went faster and faster, she suddenly could taste his juices splashing inside of her mouth. She slowly took her mouth from his dripping wet member with some of his juices running from her mouth and down her chin. She was then grabbed by her hair once again and was forced to stand on her feet.

He took his hand away from her hair and gripped around her chin to make her look him in the eyes. "Swallow it", he demanded.

She did as he wanted and gulped down the juices that had filled her mouth. Afterwards she watched him leaned in to roughly kiss and bite her lips. The kiss was rough enough to make her bottom lip bleed.

He took his lips from hers and pressed his forehead against hers while he heavily panted, "I knew you'd listen." He gave her a small peck on the forehead before he lowly spoke to her, "Good girl."

Later on it was officially the morning that next day. The sun lit up the morning sky along with the busy streets of Tech City. Freya decided to meet up with Risa at the coffee shop to sit down and drink coffee and to also catch up on what was going on within their lives.

Risa sat across the table from Freya while she were both sitting at a booth together. Her eyebrow rose in concern as she observed her sitting across her. She noticed that she was slouched down in her seat and her eyes were bloodshot and very tired it seemed. She figured she had a long night and she didn't get much sleep. It almost looked like she would go to sleep at any moment. "Uh, Freya?" She called in a low tone. "You okay? You don't look so good."

Freya's tired eyes looked away from the mug of coffee sitting in front of her and looked up over at Risa. "Huh? Oh I'm fine, Risa", she replied with a yawn. "I'm just a little tired."

"I can see that. Work's been pretty rough huh?"

She let out another small and tired yawn before she spoke again. "Tell me about it. I've been watching over Spike too. He was super fussy last night and it wasn't easy putting him to sleep."

"Really? Why is that? I thought Nails and Tikal were babysitting him?" She couldn't help but to have the feeling that something was wrong. Why was Freya babysitting Spike? Even she knew that Tikal and Nails were Shadow and Rouge's personal babysitters.

She paused and thought if she should tell her what was going on within The Chaotix and The Council. Last time she did recall that Risa was in fact on the fence when it came to Shadow ever since her neighbors were murdered by Scourge and Fiona. When it came to the subject of demons, it only upset her. But she didn't want to hide anything from her. She was her best friend and wanted to confide in her. Her eyes glanced around the busy coffee shop. The shop was packed full of people so she wanted to keep their conversation as private as she could between them. She paused before she spoke to her in a low tone. "Actually..."

Risa saw the concerned look on her face and listened closely to what she was about to say.

She lightly gripped her hands around the hot mug of coffee and directed her eyes down towards it. "Things have been bad. Really bad."

"...What? What's going on, Freya?" She asked in a concerned tone.

She slightly shook her head as she didn't want to exactly say what she was thinking. "The worst has happened..."

"...What?"

"The boss..." She took her eyes away from the mug of coffee in front of her and looked back towards Risa. "His demon powers are restored."

After hearing that, she paused for a moment and then leaned her back against the seat she sat in trying to take in what Freya had just said.

She sat Risa's reaction and wished she never even said anything about it to her, but she felt like she to let her know. "...And Miss Rouge. She's been turned too."

"...What?" She took her back away from the seat she sat in and leaned her body against the table to get closer to Freya. "Shadow? And Rouge? Demons?"

She made a small and saddened nod as she reassured her.

She slowly took the front of her body away from the table and shook her head slightly. "I knew it. I knew this would happen."

Her eyes watched as Risa set her clenched fist onto the surface of the table. Clearly she was upset about the news. "...Risa?"

"Has he hurt you?" She asked with a low tone full of anger.

She quickly shook her head, "N-No he hasn't touched me. I only saw it all happen." Her body slightly jumped when she heard Risa slam her fist down onto the table just enough to rattle the mugs of coffee set on it.

"I knew he couldn't be trusted", she spoke in a low and bitter tone.

Just as she feared. Risa was starting to hate Shadow more and more. She knew that she was uncomfortable with the fact that he was a demon but now he was out and about killing people and God only knew what else. "No he was never always like this. This isn't his fault. He's still the same Shadow in the inside and I know it."

She let out a heavy sigh. She knew Freya had a soft spot for Shadow and it worried her she wasn't looking at anything outside from the fact that he was now a merciless monster. "Freya..."

"Look I know what's been going through your mind but if you just put those thoughts behind you..."

"I won't", she spoke in an angry yet louder tone. "As of right now, Shadow is the enemy and you're just being okay with this?" She slightly shook her head as Spike came into her mind. "And what about Spike?"

"What about him?"

"Aren't you worried that he and Rouge will find out you're the one who has their child? You're a target, Freya. A fucking target. I know they're looking for him and when they find Spike..."

She quickly spoke over her to calm her down, "N-No. I have Spike to make sure he stays safe until we all figure out a way to save the boss and Miss Rouge. Besides, Spike is only a baby. Why would they have the need to go after him?"

Risa bitterly rose an eyebrow, "I don't know, Freya. Maybe they wanna find him and turn him into a bloodthirsty demon too so they can all be a happy little family. Have you ever thought about that?"

She let out a heavy sigh as she began to wonder if that ever would be a plan for Shadow and Rouge to do. "That won't happen. I won't let it if that's the case." Even if that was their goal, she was determined to keep Spike out of the situation as much as possible.

She knew Freya was a strong fighter and all but she still couldn't help but to worry for her. She let out a heavy sigh, "Freya..."

She was done talking to her. She wanted to tell her what was going on and she did. She just didn't handle taking the news as well as she had hoped. At this point, she couldn't say anymore to her to reassure that everything will be fine. She stood from the table and began to gather her things that she had set to the side of her. "Just trust me on this okay? Look we'll talk more about this later. I got a lot to take care of. We'll keep in touch. So don't worry so much. I got this..."

Outside of the coffee shop, Rouge had her back leaned against the glass window of the shop and held her hand behind her back to hide the two fingers that were pressed gently against the glass of the window. A small and devious smile formed on her lips while she heard Freya's voice within the built in microphone in the inside of the collar of her black bodysuit. When she heard the conversation ending, she took her fingers and back away from the glass of the window. She stood away from the window and used her wings to fly off into the sky.

Later, Nicole anxiously paced around Sally's office with her arms crossed. She sighed heavily, "I can't believe this is happening..."

Sally sat at her desk and watched as Nicole slowly paced around the office. After the meeting with the rest of The Council back in Tech City, she arrived back and informed everyone in on the situation. Everyone's reaction was full of shock and worry which was what she had expected out of her team. "Well it is and that fact remains."

She stopped her pacing and turned to Sally as she saw her sitting at her desk with the side of her head resting on her hand. "I hope this witch Espio speaks of will be able to help. It would be a shame if we had to eliminate them." Nicole saw the silent yet worried look on Sally's face. She along with everyone else knew that Sally had called a truce with Shadow but now that Shadow was at this state, she wasn't sure if Sally considered him a trusted ally anymore. She and Sally directed their attention towards the door of the office. The door slowly cracked open and they both saw Sonic peek his head into the office.

"Uh, sorry to interrupt but, Sal? Can we talk?"

When Nicole saw Sally make a nod towards him, she figured that he wanted to talk to her privately. She turned away from Sally and decided to leave the office leaving the two alone to talk.

When Sonic saw Nicole leaving the office and closing the door behind her, he turned to Sally and gave her a look of concern.

Sally saw the nervous looks on his face and figured that whatever he wanted to talk about was from the incident from last night. "What's wrong, hun?"

While seeming quite uneasy, he placed his hand in the pocket of his blue skinny jeans as he stepped closer towards the front of her desk. "I just wanted to be clear about what was going on with Shadow and Rouge. I know you briefed everything over with everyone but I wanted to be sure." He used his thumb to point back towards the door. "The guys are pretty freaked and they're talking about killing them."

She wasn't very surprised. Her team was never fond of Shadow and she mostly had that to blame on herself due to the fact that she had previously hated Shadow deeply and would constantly speak ill of him to her entire team. "...I'm aware. To be honest, none of the other teams in general were ever fond of Shadow. Now that this has happened, this is giving them all the more reason to hate him."

"Well I guess that explains a lot..." He slowly shifted his eyes away from her while there was a moment of awkward silence between them. A few seconds had passed until he had decided to speak what was really on his mind. "Hey, Sal? I know a lot has happened between now and last night but...what exactly happened when Shadow broke into the bedroom last night?"

Her heart raced as he brought up what happened last night. She saw this coming. She knew his suspicions from last night wouldn't go away until he had some kind of answer. Her eyes slightly shifted away from him in guilt. "...He came into the bedroom and simply threatened to kill me if I or the rest of The Council were to interfere with him or The Dark Alliance."

That wasn't the exact answer he was looking for. He turned back to her with a look of determination in his eyes. "But why? Why would he come all the way to Future City to simply talk shit like that to you? You out of all people?"

She didn't know for sure but she had a feeling she knew what it was. With Darkness being apart of Shadow, perhaps he was aware of Shadow's personal feelings towards her and used that to his advantage to emotionally torture her. However she was determined not to tell Sonic about it. She paused and slightly bit her lip, "...I don't know..."

He saw her constantly adverting her eyes from his and the uneasy expression on her face. He could tell that she wasn't being straightforward with him. "Something happened didn't it?" He stepped closer to her, "I know it did. As I recall, the bed was made when I left and when I came back, it was a complete wreck."

She feared that he was beginning to assume the worst had happened. "Sonic..."

"Sally, did he..."

She started to fidget with her hands as her heart continued to race inside of her chest. She really didn't want him to finish his sentence. She didn't want to hear him the foul thing he would say. "N-No! He didn't touch me..."

He didn't believe her. He slightly shook his head in confusion, "What? Sally..." He let out a heavy sigh of frustration while he rubbed the side of his head. "You're...you're not telling me the full story here."

He was concerned and it wasn't wrong of him to feel that way but she didn't want to speak of it. "Sonic, please..."

His patience was growing thin. "Why, Sally? Why won't you tell me?"

"Tell you what?"

He was done. He was done with her nothing being blunt and honest about the situation and felt like he could no longer talk reasonably with her. In both anger and frustration, he slammed his fist down onto the surface of the desk hard enough to rattle the multiple cup holders that were full of pens and pencils. "Tell me that bastard raped you!"

Her face and actions froze when she heard him shout those words to her. Her eyes were locked with his angry ones in a moment of silence. She didn't know what to do. He assumed Shadow had raped her. She didn't know if he was better off thinking that or just telling him the simple truth. Either way, he still would be enraged. "Sonic..."

His fist clenched tighter as he continued to set it down on the desk, "I know what happened", he spoke in a low and upset tone. "The way the room and that bed looked..." He slightly shook his head, "He fucking raped you, Sally."

She placed her hand over her mouth as she saw the upset look on his face. He was absolutely heartbroken and she couldn't stand to see him this way. She didn't want to tell him the actual truth. Not after witnessing his reaction to his own assumptions. She slightly shook her head, "Sonic, I..." Her words cut off as her eyes sadly adverted his.

He let out a small and heavy sigh as he took his fist away from the table and reached hsi hand out towards her. "It's okay, Sal. You're scared. I get it." Before he could touch the side of her face, he saw her slightly flinch. His heart shattered as he witnessed her reaction. She was shocked, damaged, and hurt. And it was all Shadow's fault. "I'll take care of this, Sal. I promise."

She watched as he took his hand away from her and began to step towards the door of the office. "Sonic..."

He placed his hand on the doorknob and turned his head to her slightly, "I'll make him pay", he declared in angry tone. "I'll make that son of a bitch pay for what he did to you."

Before she could say anything more to him, she watched him open the door and slam it shut behind him. She rested her back against the desk chair she sat in and stared at the door while she was deep in thought. Shadow was a rapist in Sonic's eyes and her stomach turned as she could only imagine what would happen the next time the two confronted each other.

 **Author's Note: Looks like Sonic is determined to take on Shadow! But how long will Sally stay quiet about the truth before Sonic and Shadow end up killing each other? More drama in the next chapter coming at ya on Friday! See you guys on the flipside!**

 **In The Next Chapter...**

 **Freya: Nails, you're back!**

 **Nails: I'm going to save Shadow and my sister. Count on it!**

 **Rouge: What? Are you all just expecting to die?**

 **Appex: Where's Shadow?**

 **Ker: What? What is this!?**

 **Joyce:...Shadow?**

 **Shadow: Hello, Joyce...**


	11. Chapter 11

**CHAPTER 11**

It was later on in the evening and Tikal, Espio, and Tonya were gathered at Nails' magic to meet up with Nails who had just returned to Tech City.

Nails leaned her lower back against a long brown table that was set in the middle of the store and had her attention directed towards Espio, Tonya, and Tikal. She had her arms crossed and let out a heavy sigh after hearing them explain to her what was happening. "So", she began. "It's happened again huh?"

Espio made a small nod as he confirmed the information he had just given her. "I'm afraid so."

Nails placed her hand on the side of her head and let out another heavy sigh, "Damn..."

Tikal stepped over to her and hugged her for comfort. "I know and it's really scary. I even think they're both after Spike."

While Tikal embraced her, she had returned the hug while she continued to direct her attention to Espio and Tonya. "It seems that way. When I flew back in earlier, I came back to the apartment completely trashed." She looked down at Tikal while she continued to hold her close to her. "I'm so glad you weren't there last night. They probably would have tried to kill you."

Tikal made a small nod. She was relieved that she had thought ahead about what would happen and stayed at the Chaotix for safety.

Even Tonya knew deep down that Shadow and Rouge would hit Nails' apartment to find some kind of clue to where Spike was. "Well yeah. It's no mystery they have their sights set on Spike." She placed her hands on her hips, "We need to act and fast."

Espio again made a nod as he agreed, "Yeah it's only a matter of time."

"Right." Nails could only imagine what would happen once Shadow and Rouge found Spike. She was determined not to let them succeed with whatever they had planned. Before she or anyone said anything else, Freya had slowly entered through the door of the shop.

Tonya spun around to turn to her and watched her close the door before making her way towards them. "Oh Freya, there you are. We were starting to get worried."

She slightly scratched the back of her head while she approached the group with a small and nervous smile. "Uh, sorry. I wanted to be sure Spike was taken care of before I left the house." She directed her attention to Nails and gave her a warm smile, "Good to see you made it back safely. Sucks your vacay was cut short though."

Nails shrugged her shoulders carelessly, "Hey it's no big. I can make up for that anytime. What's important now is that I'm here and I'm gonna do everything I can to save Shad and Rouge."

Tonya arched an eyebrow as she watched as Freya made a nod towards Nails. "Hey, Freya? Are you doing okay with Spike? I thought your mother was helping you out with him?"

She turned to Tonya who looked like she had concern for Spike. She made a nod towards her assuring her that Spike is doing fine in her care. "Oh she is. She honestly won't put him down. She's practically attached to the little guy."

Tikal had wondered what Freya had said to Joyce when she suddenly brought Spike to her house. "What did you tell your mom when you brought Spike over?"

"I just told her that the boss and Miss Rouge were super busy and they asked me to look after Spike awhile", Freya simply explained.

"Wait why would you tell her that?" Tonya gave her a confused look and crossed her arms."She doesn't know about what's going on?"

Freya slightly shrugged her shoulders, "Well I didn't want her to panic or anything..."

Tonya took a step towards her and rose an eyebrow, "...Hold on." She paused for a moment and placed her hands on her hips. "Your mother...does she even know that Shadow is a demon?"

With a small hesitation full of guilt, Freya had adverted her eyes from hers and slightly shrugged her shoulders. "That actually never really came up..."

Espio's eyes widened in shock. The entire time Joyce knew Shadow, she didn't know he was a demon all along? He didn't understand why she didn't tell her. "Wha-what! Freya, your mom doesn't know Shadow is a demon!"

A sweat drop appeared on the side of Tonya's head as an uneasy look appeared on her face, "No wonder Joyce was always so welcoming towards Shadow. She thought he was just another average everyday hedgehog."

Tikal took her body away from Nails' and turned to Tonya with a finger to her chin. "I mean he never really flashed signs that screamed demon. Unlike Ker anyway."

"Freya!" Espio was still in utter disbelief that Freya didn't tell her mother about who Shadow really was. "What the hell were you thinking? Why haven't you told Joyce about Shadow?"

Freya spun to him and held out her hand in confusion towards him. "Hey! Why was I supposed to say anything? The boss should've told her too!"

"What! Can you just imagine him telling your mom what he is? Like over dinner or something?" He took a quick deep breath before he began to speak sarcastically, "Oh hey I'm Shadow. Your daughter's boss. By the way, I'm a flesh eating half demon. Hope you'll still invite me over for dinner sometime."

With a moment of silence, Freya placed her hands on her hips while she gave him an annoyed look. "...Fine! I can see why it wasn't his place to say it but still! You can get why I never really mentioned it to her." She took her hands away from her hips and sighed heavily, "My mom really likes the boss and I didn't want her to be on edge whenever he came around." She rose an eyebrow and slightly shook her head, "She still hasn't gotten used to Ker being around her. She gets weird when it comes to the subject of demons."

Tonya could completely understand why Freya didn't mention to her mother about Shadow. After all, Luthor was Freya and her mother's first real encounter with a demon. A high ranking demon at that and he did enough damage to terrify Joyce for almost the rest of her life. "I know Joyce is nervous when it comes to demons in general but still...she had every right to know about Shadow."

Freya sighed heavily and directed her eyes down at the floor, "You're right. She needed to know." Especially when the two were fairly close with each other.

Espio sighed heavily as he placed his hand on the side of his head and rubbed it in worry. "God I hope they don't find Spike. I'm really fucking worried about your mom, Freya."

Freya wanted to believe that everything would be fine and Shadow and Rouge wouldn't end up finding Spike. However Risa's words from earlier had continuously haunted her mind. She looked back up towards Espio, "Look she'll should be fine. Besides they're not gonna find out where Spike is. We'll put a stop to them before they even think about looking there." Freya turned to Nails with a assured look on her face, "Right, Nails?"

Nails wanted to believe that they would stop them in time as well. However she couldn't be certain she could do that. "Right. I'll find a way to save Shadow and my sister. Count on it."

Tikal made a nod and turned to the group while taking her fist and hitting it into the palm of her hand. "Right! Let's hit the books!"

Later on at the Chaotix, Grace walked over to the front desk within the lobby with two white mugs of coffee in her hands. She set one on the mugs on the desk in front of Charmy while he was sitting there writing on a piece of paper.

He paused when he heard the mug being set down on the surface of the desk in front of him. He looked up and saw Grace standing in front of the desk with a warm smile on her face. "Oh thanks, Grace."

She watched as he reached out towards the mug to pick it up to take a sip from it. "It's no problem. I thought you could need it."

After he took a sip from the mug, he made a slight nod and placed the mug back down on the desk. "Yeah. I'll admit I haven't gotten much sleep since everything happened."

Appex who sat at another desk set across from Charmy looked over to him while he used his thumb to point towards himself. "Hey you and I both. How can any of us sleep while knowing Shadow could pop up at any moment?"

Midnight who sat on a black stool that was set against the wall looked over to Appex. "That's true..." Midnight knew everyone was physically and emotionally exhausted. No one could get any rest without them all fearing Shadow could show up at anytime to attack them. He like everyone else was on edge as well.

Grace in all honesty still couldn't get over what was happening. She just wanted to pretend that none of this was happening but it was a sad fact that it was. And just observing everyone's worry just made her a nervous wreck deep down. She turned to Midnight while placing a finger slightly to her bottom lip. "What if he does show up? What do we do?"

"We fight", Ker spoke as he slowly walked out from the backroom and out into the lobby with both his hands in his pants pockets. With a serious look on his face, he turned to the worried group. "And not hold back. That's all what we can do."

Even after hearing Ker's answer, that didn't exactly make Grace feel any safer.

Midnight still saw the nervous and worried look on Grace's face and attempted to try to ease her. "Hey don't worry. You got us here after all and besides..." He pointed towards Ker, "We also have a demon trump card here. If anyone has a fighting chance with Shadow, it's definitely Ker here."

Grace's eyes shifted over to Ker and glanced him up and down. "Oh that's right. You're a demon too."

Charmy crossed his arms and rested his back against the desk chair he sat in. "Midnight's right. Ker's the only fighting chance we have even with his powers being halfway tame." He knew out of everyone else on the team besides Shadow, he was the next strongest out of them all. However after when his inhumanity had been taken from him, he wasn't at full power like he was. Nevertheless he was still strong. "Which leads me to think..." He slowly shifted his eyes over to the group. "I hope The Dark Alliance isn't planning on doing what I think they're trying to do."

Appex knew what he was getting at. If The Dark Alliance's goal was to restore Ker's powers as well, it wouldn't be good news for them. "If so, we're beyond fucked", he spoke bitterly.

Ker had always worried deep down that if The Dark Alliance strived to turn Rouge and Shadow, there wouldn't be a doubt in his mind that they probably had their sights on him as well. He clenched his fists against his sides in determination, "Don't worry. I won't let that happen."

Midnight let out a small sigh with a hopeless look on his face. "No offense. But Shad said the same and look what happened..." He wanted to have faith that The Dark Alliance wouldn't get to Ker but with the situation being as dark as it was, he couldn't exactly stay positive.

Grace had then saw Ker turning away from them and nervously looking around the lobby. "...Ker? What's wrong?"

Ker remained silent for a moment as he continued to scan the lobby around them. "...We're not alone."

Charmy could tell from the way he was acting, that Ker was sensing a demonic presence. He quickly stood from the desk chair he sat in and nervously looked around the lobby as well, "Damn it", he swore in a low tone. "A demon's nearby."

When Appex saw everyone else looking around and being on guard, he had done the same. "Or in the fucking agency."

Grace bit her lip as she anxiously looked around and took a step back. "Is it...is it Shadow?" She was startled when she and the group had heard a sudden feminine voice speak out throughout the lobby.

"What? Are you all just expecting to die?"

The voice sounded like it was coming above them. They all looked above them and up on the balcony they spotted a white bat woman wearing a black bodysuit standing above them.

Midnight gritted his teeth at the sight of her casually and calmly leaning her body against the railing of the balcony. "Rouge..."

Rouge looked down at the group with a calm yet devious look on her face. "My, my it's been quite some time hasn't it?"

Ker took a small step forward, "...Cut the crap", he spoke bitterly. "Where's Shadow?"

She rose an eyebrow as she was curious to know why they were so set on confronting Shadow. "Wouldn't you like to know..."

Judging from her reaction, Midnight figured he clearly wasn't with her. As he looked up at her, he wanted to believe that the old Rouge they all knew and loved was still deep inside of her. "Rouge, I know you're still in there somewhere. Please listen..."

"Shut up!" She shouted as she angrily narrowed her eyes towards the wolf. "I work for The Dark Alliance now and that's how it's gonna stay!"

Everyone stepped back when they saw her suddenly jump down from the balcony and confronted them. They quickly drew their weapons and pointed them towards her.

While pointing a handgun towards Rouge, Charmy turned back to Grace who had a worried look on her face. For her safety, he didn't want her near Rouge. "Grace, get back!"

Grace did as Charmy wanted and stepped further away from the fight that was about to take place.

Rouge slowly began to step forward towards the cautious group. "Now then...let's get down to business..." She placed her hand on her hip while having an evil smirk on her face. "Tell me where my son is and I'll spare your lives."

"Oh you can forget it!" Appex figured she would either be after Ker or Spike. Other than that why else would she even show her face at the agency? "We're not gonna give him up to you!"

"Why do you want him anyway?" Midnight asked angrily. "He's just a baby!"

The devious smirk widened on Rouge's lips, "Shadow and I have huge plans for him. Spike will become the strong demonic being he was born to become just like Shadow."

A disgusted look appeared on Ker's face. Like he thought, they were planning to turn Spike into a demon. "What! You're not gonna turn Spike into a monster!"

An evil chuckle escaped her as her eyes shifted over to Ker, "You're so funny, Ker. You're still a full fledged demon but yet you chose to give up your inhumanity." Her eyes glanced at the rest of the group, "Just to protect these stupid mortals." Her eyes shifted back over to him, "Just look at you. You've grown so weak. I can help you fix that if you want me to..."

"No!" Ker shouted angrily with his fists tightly clenched. "I won't! I won't go back to being a bloodthirsty killer!"

She slightly scoffed under her breath as she expected his angry reaction towards her. "Then it's your funeral, sweetie."

With him thinking she would attack him first, she swiftly made her way over to Appex, Midnight, and Charmy. She quickly struck them all with powerful punches and kicks causing them to drop their guns to the floor. She grabbed Appex by his wrist and took his body to throw him into Charmy. When Midnight tried to grab her from behind, she took him by his wrist and tossed his body across the room as well. Right when she laid her sights on Grace, Ker quickly grabbed her by her wrist and used his fist to forcefully punch her in the face knocking her away from him.

Ker watched as she was knocked away at a pretty far distance away from him. He glared towards her with his fists still clenched. "I don't want it to be this way, Rouge."

She wiped some blood from her bottom lip and smirked evilly towards him. "Too bad." She pointed towards the rest of the group. "You may be stronger than they are but you're not fighting at your full capacity and you know this!"

Ker paused and knew that she was right. Without his inhumanity restored, he was fighting at average demonic strength. But he refused to let that happen to him again.

She noticed him hesitating and appearing deep in thought. She slowly and calmly held her hand out towards him. "Don't you want to leave this life and become strong again?"

While laying on the floor, Appex took note of their conversation and turned to Midnight who was beside him. "She's actually gonna try to restore his inhumanity?"

Midnight's eyes fell upon Rouge who was trying to persuade Ker. "Should've saw this coming from a long shot. If she succeeds and forces him to drink her blood, we're all fucking done for." He wanted to believe that Ker would be strong enough to fight her off.

Ker slightly shook his head as he directed his attention towards her. "There's always a price to pay for having power and I've been there. It only causes more pain and suffering. And I don't want that for anyone anymore."

She figured Ker was determined to stay the way he was and it frustrated her to know that Ker would give up power in order to protect his loved ones. She clenched her hand into a fist slowly. "If you won't fight with us then like these mortals, you're against us", she growled under her breath before she came charging towards him.

"Do your worst", he spoke lowly under his breath. When he saw her reach into her black holster belt that was around her waist, he was prepared for her to reach for a weapon. He then saw her quickly throw something towards him. He used his hand and smacked whatever she had thrown at his way. Before he had the chance to see what she had thrown his way, she had continued to come towards him with both her fists clenched. He stopped her from punching him by grabbing her wrists to hold her back. He struggled just holding her back from her trying to break out of his grip.

While figuring she would be able to break free from his grip, she took her knee and used it to strike him in his stomach making him loosen his grip from her. When she got her wrists free, she took her leg and kicked him in his side to knock his body down onto the floor.

When Ker hit the floor, he caught sight of the strange device she had thrown towards him and quickly grabbed it. When he saw her approach him once again, he quickly stood from the floor and was prepared for her to strike him again with another close encounter attack. When she tried to punch him once again, he again grabbed her by her wrist and held the strange device up towards her chest.

When she felt the device being pressed against her chest, a sudden powerful electric shock was felt throughout her body.

He watched as the electric shocks were weakening her. He used this as an opportunity to kick her body away from his. Once she was away from him at a good distance, he held his hand out towards her and blasted a white light towards her. The blast was powerful enough to make her back hit against the wall and knock her down.

When she fell to the floor, everyone had noticed that she wasn't moving. She had probably fell unconscious. Everyone stared at her body to see any movement from her but they saw nothing happen while she laid there.

Appex stood from the floor and turned to Ker with a worried look on his face. "Holy crap, Ker. You killed her."

Ker lowered his hand down beside his waist as he turned to Appex and Midnight who gave him uneasy looks. "I didn't want to use that attack to bring her down. But what choice did I have? She is wearing the gunsuit after all and I didn't know what else kind of heat she was packing in that thing."

While Appex, Midnight, and Charmy had their attention to Ker, Grace slowly and carefully stepped over to Rouge's unconscious body. "Is she...dead?" She asked herself in a low tone under her breath.

Charmy turned away from Ker and the others only to see Grace standing in front of Rouge's body. His eyes widened as he saw her kneeling down to her, "Grace!" He shouted, "Get away from her!"

Before she could react, she was suddenly grabbed by her neck and felt a sharp and cool object being held against her throat.

The group heard her terrified scream and saw that Rouge had her in her grip with a knife held against her throat.

Charmy had a terrified look on his face as he saw Rouge having Grace in her possession. "Grace!"

Grace's tearful eyes had looked back over to her. "Oh God! Please, Rouge! Please don't do this!" Her mouth was then silenced when she placed her hand over her mouth.

"Shut up!" Rouge demanded as her grip tightened on the handle of the knife. She looked back at the group who had uneasy expressions on their faces. "Nobody move and I won't slit her pretty little neck."

"Rouge, no!" Appex shouted as he stared at the sight.

As Charmy saw the blade of the knife getting closer and closer to Grace's neck, he had gotten more and more panicked about the situation. At this point, he was willing to do anything for Grace's safety. Even if it meant telling Rouge what she wanted. "Wa-Wait! Don't do it! I...I know where Spike is! Just don't hurt her!"

Rouge rose an eyebrow as she heard Charmy's sudden outburst. "Oh really? He wouldn't perhaps be at Freya's house would he?"

Charmy's heart raced. How was it even possible? Did she know about where Spike was the entire time? What exactly was going on? "...Wha-what? H-How did..."

Ker was also thrown into confusion. If Rouge knew about Spike then why was she there at the Chaotix? He clenched his fists angrily, "If you knew then why? Why are you here? What...what is this?"

The evil smirk on her lips had slowly widened as she held Grace's body closer to hers. "A distraction..."

Meanwhile, Joyce had just got done washing the dishes in the kitchen of her her home. She walked away from the kitchen sink and made her way over to the small blue towel that was hanging off of the handle of the oven to dry her wet hands. Once she got done drying her hands, she heard the doorbell ring. Her eyes glanced up looked up at the clock on the wall and saw that it was almost nine. She turned away from the clock and looked towards the door. "Hm? I wonder who could be here at this hour?" She then made her way over towards the door and placed her hand on the doorknob. When she opened the door, she saw a male black and red hedgehog standing at the doorway. "Oh? Shadow?"

A small smirk formed on his lips while he leaned his body against the doorway and had his red eyes locked into her yellow eyes. "Hello, Joyce..."

 **Author's Note: Well this can't be good! Shadow made his way to Freya's house while Rouge is keeping the Chaotix busy! Will Rouge succeed in turning Ker? Will Shadow manage to finally get his hands on Spike? So many questions but all will be revealed soon enough!**

 **I probably won't end up posting another chapter before Christmas so with that, Happy Holidays! I hope you guys have a fun and safe holiday! And I will see you all on the flipside!**

 **In The Next Chapter...**

 **Charmy: Leave Grace alone!**

 **Ker: You won't get away with this!**

 **Tonya: Freya!**

 **Joyce: Sha-Shadow? What's going on? What's...what's happened to you?**

 **Shadow: I want to taste more of you...**

 **Freya: Mom, no!**


	12. Chapter 12

**CHAPTER 12**

"Shadow?" With her eyes set on the black and red hedgehog standing in front of her, a warm and relieved smile formed on Joyce's face. "Freya didn't tell me you were stopping by. Oh please come in."

The small yet evil smirk he had on his face slightly widened when he saw her gesturing him to step inside of the kitchen of her home. "Don't mind if I do..."

When Joyce saw him step into the kitchen, she shut the door behind him and turned to him. "So what made you want to suddenly swing by? Here to pick Spike up I assume?"

His ears slightly twitched as he heard her speak his son's name. He wondered why she was being so open and casual with him. He figured maybe Freya didn't mention to her anything with what was going on which made things for him flow so much more smoother. "Yeah I figured I'd take him off your hands."

She slightly waved her hand towards him, "Oh he's been no trouble at all really. He's been asleep most of the evening."

His eyes scanned around the kitchen and glanced over at the other rooms in his sight, "So where is he anyway?"

"He's asleep in Freya's room." She walked over to the stove within the kitchen and reached for a kettle that was setting on the surface of the stove.

He placed a finger under his chin when Joyce confirmed where Spike's location was within the house. "I see..."

She began to pour some hot tea into a white mug from the kettle that was on the stove, "I hope you're not in a hurry. I made some tea."

His eyes shifted back over to her and thought now that he knew where Spike was without trying to force any answers out of her, everything was going smoothly. He didn't see the harm in simply sitting down and enjoying tea with her. Besides with her being so open to him, he may could get even more information out of her without her even knowing it. "No I'm in no hurry at all", he spoke while he made his way over to the table to take a seat. "Besides...I am pretty thirsty..."

Meanwhile, Ker, Appex, Midnight, and Charmy stood there in the middle of the lobby within the Chaotix agency glaring at the white bat woman who stood across from them having Grace hostage in her arms.

Ker stared at the knife she had held up to Grace's neck and looked back towards Rouge "...A distraction?"

Appex was still shocked what Rouge's real intentions were all along and was furious that he and the others didn't figure it all out sooner. "She's here to keep us busy while Shadow is on his way to Freya's house!"

An evil smile formed on Rouge's lips when she heard Appex figuring everything out. "Well that was the initial plan after all."

Midnight had a look of devastation on his face. He had hoped Freya or Joyce weren't home and were out of Shadow's sights. "No..." he murmured under his breath.

With tears swelling in her terrified eyes, Grace tried to reach out towards Charmy while still in Rouge's grip. "Charmy..."

It tore Charmy apart to see Grace so frightened and his stomach turned as he thought of what Rouge may do next. "Grace..." When he took a small step forward, he froze when he saw Rouge jerking her body back closer to her.

Grace let out a small yelp as she felt Rouge's grip on her tighten and the blade of the knife touching her neck. She sniffed as tears streamed down her face, "No..."

Ker was beginning to lose patience. It wasn't easy for him to watch Rouge torture Grace either. He only became more and more angry by the sight. "Well congratulations on doing your part. Now let her go", Ker demanded.

She slightly shook her head, "Heh I don't think so."

This was bad. What was going to happen next? And what would they have to do to reassure Grace's safety? "What do you want?"

Her eyes were fixed onto Ker's. "Like I said, you'd be a fine addition to The Dark Alliance. What do you say, Ker?"

Midnight couldn't believe it. She actually wanted Ker to join her and The Dark Alliance in exchange for Grace's life. "Is this what this is all about?"

"If you decline my offer, you can say goodbye to preggo over here", Rouge had warned as her grip around the knife she held tightened.

Midnight turned to Ker and saw him looking down towards the floor appearing deep in thought. He had wondered what was running through his mind. "What do we do?" He asked him in a low and unsure tone.

While Ker looked down to the floor, he tried to think of every possible way to save Grace but only on option had came to mind. He slowly looked away from the floor and turned back to Midnight with a saddened look on his face. "I...I don't think I have a choice..."

"What?" Midnight gasped with an unbelievable look on his face. He was going to do it. Ker was going to sacrifice himself to save Grace. And if that were to happen, Ker would no longer be on their side.

Ker turned to him and the rest of the group with a look of desperation on his face. "If I don't do what she wants, Grace could die."

Charmy really didn't want it all to end like this. He cared for both Ker and Grace and he was amazed what Ker would do to save someone. He knew at that moment that Ker really did put everyone else before himself. "Ker..."

While Charmy and Midnight tried to take in Ker's decision, Appex angrily stared at the knife Rouge held against Grace's neck. His ears perked up as he heard a squeal coming from Grace. He saw Rouge getting more and more rough with her and had the blade getting closer to her neck.

"Time is running out!" Rouge spat out impatiently.

It was a hard decision to make but time was running short. He had to make a move before it was all too later. Before he could step towards her, he froze in his tracks when something sharp had suddenly sank into Rouge's hand causing her to yell out in pain and drop the knife to the floor and release Grace from her grip.

Once Grace sought out her opportunity, she quickly shoved her body away from Rouge and ran over into Charmy's arms. "Charmy!"

Charmy watched as she ran into his arms in tears. He held her tightly in his arms in relief, "Grace, thank God..."

After witnessing Grace being reunited with Charmy, Ker turned back to Rouge and saw that a sharp red quill was sunk into her now bleeding hand. Once he saw the red quill, he knew that the quill belonged to Appex. He looked back over to Appex who stood there with his hand directed out towards her. "Appex..."

While holding her bloody hand, Rouge glared over towards the angry porcupine. "Damn you, Appex!"

"I guess you forgot I can use my quills as weapons huh?" Appex had mocked with a slight cocky tone.

"You're bold for doing such a thing", Rouge had spoke.

Appex knew he had caught her off guard but it wasn't enough to take her down. So he continued to hold his hand out towards her and watched for the next move she would make. "Well I wasn't gonna let you turn Ker into a monster and kill Grace." His yellow eyes were locked onto hers, "I already know your game. You were gonna kill Grace regardless."

She was surprised. Did Appex actually see right through her? Or did he just guess that was going to happen as an outcome? "You don't know that."

A bitter and disgusted look formed on his face when he figured that was exactly what she was going to do. "You demons don't care about anyone except yourselves so why spare a mortal's life?"

He was right. Why would she spare Grace's life after when she had got what she wanted? She took her hand away from her bleeding one and slightly shrugged her shoulders carelessly. "Heh, guilty." When she saw the group getting ready to fight her once again, she noticed she did what she had to do and it was time to go. "Well it's been fun but I think we should continue this another time."

Everyone saw her extended her hand out towards the wall near her. They had then watched as the black glove she wore suddenly change into a strange and large gun barrel that resembled a type of canon it seemed.

Charmy's eyes widened when he saw her pointing the barrel towards the wall. "Rouge!" Before he or anyone else could say anything else, they were all almost blown back from the blast Rouge had made in the wall. When the dust finally settled from the blast, they turned and saw that a large gaping hole was visible to the outside and Rouge had disappeared.

"Damn", Appex swore under his breath. "She's gone..."

Midnight turned to Ker looking for answers on what to do next, "Now what do we do?"

On one hand, everyone was safe but on the other hand Ker was deeply concerned for the others who were out in about and in Shadow and Rouge's radar. He sighed heavily, "We gotta warn the others..."

Meanwhile at Nails' shop, the shop was quiet and had dim lighting. The atmosphere was quite peaceful especially with them all gathered at tables reading through books. Nails and Tikal were sitting at one table that was practically covered in books. While the two were reading some of the books in front of them, Espio, Tonya, and Freya were sitting at another table doing the same. There was the constant sounds of page turning until Espios' cell phone sudden started ringing within the shop. Everyone turned and saw Espio pulling the phone out of his pants pocket.

Espio looked at the caller's name and saw that it was Midnight who was calling him. He didn't know why but he had a bad feeling about the call. After all, everything was quiet. Too quiet. He answered the call with a concerned look on his face. "Midnight? What's up?"

"Hey, Es? Are you guys okay?" Midnight had asked over the line in a panicked tone.

He knew it. Something had happened. He could hear the panic and concern in Midnight's voice. "Um of course. Why wouldn't we be? Why? Is something wrong?"

Everyone watched as Espio slowly stood from his chair while he kept talking on the phone. Everyone knew something had happened judging by his reaction from talking to Midnight.

Midnight took a deep breath and tried to gather his words before he continued to speak. "Uh we have a problem..."

While Espio continued to talk over the phone, Freya tried to listen in on the conversation the best she could. The volume on Espio's phone was pretty loud so she was sure she and everyone else could hear bits and pieces of what the two were talking about.

"What? Rouge did what? Shadow is... Oh God..."

Freya's face was overcame with worry. They were talking about Shadow and Rouge. What had happened? What was going on? She needed to know. She called out to Espio in a low and worried voice. "What? What's wrong, Espio?"

Espio looked back over to Freya with a serious expression on his face. "It's your mom. Shadow's on his way to your house to get Spike."

Freya's heart sank in the pit of her stomach after hearing Espio's reply. Shadow found out where Spike was and he was on his way or already at her house. "...Mom? Oh no..."

Espio's eyes widened when he saw Freya suddenly stand from her chair. This wasn't good. He knew Freya was going to get upset and was worried she would end up doing something drastic. "Freya, wait a minute..."

"I have to go help my mom!"

Nails saw Freya rushing away from the table and running towards the entrance of the shop. "Freya! Freya, wait!"

"Freya!" Tonya also called out to her but doing that didn't slow her down and she continued to run out of the shop.

Tikal's eyes stared at the door Freya stormed out of and bit her lip nervously, "Oh no..."

It was a given Freya was making her way back home and her acting out and going alone worried Espio and the rest of the group. "Damn it!"

Midnight heard Espio's angry reaction over the phone and figured something had happened. "What? What happened?"

He slowly shook his head before talking back over the phone to Midnight. "Freya...she just shot out of here. I'm pretty sure she went home to try to stop Shadow."

Midnight let out a heavy and frustrated sigh, "God damn it..."

Meanwhile, Joyce sat across from Shadow at the kitchen table with them both having small white mugs full of tea setting in front of them.

Shadow took a sip of his tea and set the mug back down on the table in front of him. "You make some pretty amazing tea, Joyce."

With a slight blush, she smiled warmly towards him. "Oh why thank you. But I don't do anything special really." She stood from her chair and picked up the mug she was drinking from, "It's just sweet and simple tea." She walked over towards the kitchen counter where she had her dishes drying on top of. She placed down her mug full of tea and started to put the dishes she had just washed away. "So Freya's been telling me you and Rouge have been pretty busy lately. I guess that explains why I haven't heard much from you both lately."

As he placed his elbow on the surface of the table, he rested the side of his head on his hand and shifted his eyes away from her. "...Yeah sorry I haven't been keeping in contact with you as much. Work's been Hell."

She continued to talk to him while still putting away the dishes. "Oh don't apologize, Shadow. You are the manager of the Chaotix and all. I completely understand." She had then paused from what she was doing and looked down at the counter as she appeared deep in thought. "I'm just so glad..."

He noticed her pausing from what she was doing and the tone of her voice changing into a more sincere one.

She slightly shook her head as she looked down at the counter, "I know I won't be there for Freya all the time. She's not a child anymore and it's been such a challenge to raise her on my own. But at least I know she's being taken care of even when I'm not around." She took her eyes away from the counter and spun around to Shadow while giving him a small yet grateful smile, "I'm just really glad you're apart of Freya's life. She really admires you, Shadow."

"Huh?" Her words completely threw him of guard. He knew Freya respected him and looked up to him. Just from the way she always acted around him, he could tell she had a special place in her heart for him. And the Shadow they all knew and loved felt the same. "...I...I suppose she does..." His ears had than perked up when he heard a slight yelp coming from her.

She made a small and annoyed scoff as she spun back around to him and exposed the small cut on her finger. "Damn it", she swore under her breath. While she examined the bloody cut on her finger, Shadow stood from his chair and stepped over to her in concern.

"What happened?"

She slightly shook her head and held out her hand so he could look at the cut. "I wasn't paying attention and grabbed a knife by the blade." She shrugged her shoulders slightly, "It's no big deal though. It's only a little cut." Even after letting him know that she was okay, she noticed that he was still staring at her finger. She figured he was just concerned for her. "I'll be fine really." Before she could turn away to clean up her cut, Shadow had reached out to grab her wrist and pull it towards him.

"Let me clean that up for you."

Like Freya, she knew Shadow had a habit of being overprotective of her. "It's just a small cut. It's fine..." Her words trailed off when she saw him slowly leaning his mouth close to her finger. Her eyes widened and her heart skipped a beat when she saw him take his tongue to slowly lick some of the blood away from her finger. "...Sha-Shadow? What are you..."

He took his tongue away from her finger and slightly licked around his lips. "Who knew you tasted so good, Joyce..." He spoke in a small growl.

"Wha-what?" What was happening? Why was he acting like this and saying all of these things?

His red eyes had then locked with hers and made sure he flashed his fangs as he spoke. "I want more of you..."

As she stared into his blood red eyes, she noticed something was different about him. The pupils in his eyes were a lot smaller and his teeth had turned into fangs. Something was wrong. Something was completely different with him. Her heart raced in uprising panic. "Wha-what are you talking about? Your...your teeth. What's...what's happened to you?" When she tried to pull away from him, she couldn't because he had such a tight grip on her wrist. "Let me go..." When she tried to use her other hand to push him away, he had grabbed that wrist as well. "Shadow!"

Shadow took note of her beginning to struggle more and more and decided to get slightly rougher with her. Before she could attempt to struggle in his grip even more, he took her body and slammed her back into the refrigerator.

Joyce saw him baring his fangs and heard deep growling coming from him. Terrified she looked into his menacing red eyes. "What...what are you?" She asked in a frightened tone.

"What? Your daughter never told you?" An amused look had appeared on his face. He couldn't believe it. All this time he realized that Freya never told her that he was a demon. Now it all made sense why Joyce became so close with him.

She stood there honestly too scared to move. She her body jolted as he suddenly leaned in close to her to whisper into her ear.

"I'm a demon, Joycey."

A low gasp had escaped her when he revealed to her who he truly was. Even coming from him, she didn't want to believe it. She wanted to think that everything was some kind of horrible dream. "What? You? A...demon? It can't be..."

"Full fledged and blood thirsty, baby", he had growled in her ear.

"N-No..." She was suddenly grabbed by her neck and felt the back of her head slam against the refrigerator.

With her slowly going unconscious watched he pressed his body against hers and tore away part of the collar of her green sweater to expose the side of her neck. His fangs parted as he hungrily stared at her neck. He leaned in closer until his fangs started to tear into her warm neck.

Freya hurriedly ran into the front yard of her home exhausted and out of breath. 'Please', she thought. 'Please don't let me be too late!' She ran her way up the deck of her home and stood at the door. While panting heavily from running, her hand slightly shook as it slowly reached out towards the doorknob. Her heart raced when she placed her hand on the doorknob and hoped that the door was locked. A sinking feeling was felt at the pit of her stomach when she turned the doorknob and noticed that the door was unlocked. This wasn't good. Usually her mother would always keep the doors locked. She was for certain Shadow was in the house. She took a deep breath and forcefully swung the door open. Once she opened the door, she stood there frozen at the doorway when she saw a black and red hedgehog turn to her while having his fangs sunk into the neck of an unconscious blue ferret woman. Her eyes widened in horror and her heart sank at the sight. "M-Mom!"

 **Author's Note: Happy New Year! Hope you guys been enjoying your year so far! I have quite a few resolutions and goals planned for this new year! For one, I'm gonna try to complete three main stories including this one which I know that doesn't seem like a lot but considering that the next story after this one will be pretty lengthy, it's gonna be a lot for me to accomplish. And another great resolution of mine will be posting various oneshots. So every once in a while you all will see random oneshots every now and again. I just feel like I should stray away a bit from the main storyline of my series and focus on other ideas. I feel like this is a good way for me and for you guys to see what you want me to post more. But anywho...**

 **Shadow made it to Freya's house and looks like Joyce isn't doing too good! Is Freya too late? Is this the end for Joyce? Find out in chapter 13 which will be posted Friday! See you all on the flipside!**

 **In The Next Chapter...**

 **Shadow: Well, well...little Freya to the rescue.**

 **Freya: Shadow, how could you do this?**

 **Shadow: It's your fault this happened! Your mother suffered dire consequences because of you!**

 **Freya: Shadow, no...**

 **Midnight: Damn you! I won't let you kill her!**


	13. Chapter 13

**CHAPTER 13**

Freya's eyes stared at the blood trickling down her mother's neck and down her green sweater that was becoming soaked in blood. Tears swelled in her eyes and her body slightly shook as she saw Shadow holding her mother's unconscious body in his arms with his fangs sunk into the side of her neck. "Mo-Mom?" She called in a low and hoarse voice.

When Shadow realized that Freya was standing at the doorway, he had then ripped his fangs out of her neck and threw her body down onto the kitchen floor.

"Mom!" Tears streamed down her face when she saw him violently toss her body down onto the hard floor.

After swallowing some of the blood and flesh he had ripped out of her neck, Shadow wiped some of the blood from his mouth and turned to the distraught ferret in front of him. "Well, well look who decided to show up. Little Freya to the rescue."

Her watery eyes stared at the chunk of flesh that was ripped away from the side of her neck. Her eyes looked at the blood that was gushing from her neck causing a puddle of blood to slowly form around her body. More tears rolled down her cheek as she couldn't believe the horrible state her mother was in. "Mom..." Her eyes slowly looked back over to Shadow who stood in front of her with him licking blood away from his lips. "...How...how could you..." she spoke in a low and shocked tone.

"You should've known better, Freya", he spoke with a small laugh escaping him. "You keeping my son here was a mistake." He pointed down towards Joyce's body. "She suffered dire consequences because of you!"

She slowly shook her head as more tears streamed down her face. She didn't want to believe what was happening. It all had to be some kind of bad dream. It had to. "No...Shadow..." She took a step back and sniffed softly, "It...it can't..."

It was obvious she was in shock from witnessing her mother in the state she was but he however didn't have the patience for it. He sighed heavily in annoyance, "Let me shed some light on some things for you..."

She gasped when she saw him step over to Joyce's body and place his foot over top of her bloody neck. "No..."

With his foot pressing against her neck, he again pointed down towards her while he glared over to Freya. "Bring me my son or I will snap her neck like a twig!"

She figured her mother wasn't alive especially after the way Shadow had attacked her but if there was any chance that she was still alive, she didn't want him to carry out his threat. "Shadow", she sobbed softly. "Please don't do this..."

He slightly shook his head as he witnessed her begging him not to kill her. "Don't try to beg. Trust me. It won't help any."

She sniffed as more tears ran down her face. There had to be some way to reach the real Shadow but how and what did she have to do?

He noticed her pausing from her actions and once again had gotten impatient. "Are you listening to me? I'll do it! I'll kill her and pick my teeth with her fucking bones if you don't do as I say!"

Her body slightly jumped from hearing him yell out to her. She worried that his threats were getting more and more severe. She didn't know what to do. If she didn't do as he wanted, he'd kill her but if she did, there would still be a chance he would still kill her. Both outcomes may end up the same.

Shadow noticed her still hesitating with her body frozen in one spot. Seeing this only provoked him even more. His foot pressed harder against Joyce's bloody neck. "Come on, Freya! Tick! Tock!"

When she saw him pressing his foot down harder against her neck, her body quickly took a step forward. "Okay! I'll bring him to you!"

With the answer he wanted to hear, a satisfied and evil smile formed on his face. "Heh, good girl."

Freya quickly rushed past him and hurried her way upstairs and towards her room. When she came to her bedroom door, she swung the door open and stepped into her dark bedroom. She froze at the doorway and caught sight of Spike sleeping peacefully on her bed surrounded by multiple blankets. She found it hard to swallow as she stared at the sleeping child. Was she she really going to do this? Trade Spike for her mother's chance of survival? She took a deep breath and tried to calm herself by wiping away some of the tears from her wet face. She finally found the courage to walk over to the bed and quickly but carefully picked his body off from the bed and held him in her arms. She watched as he slightly moved his body while he continued to sleep. "I'm sorry, Spike", she whispered sadly. "I failed you..." When she left the bedroom and walked back into the kitchen, she saw that Shadow was where he was when she had left. His foot was still pressed securely against Joyce's neck. When she presented Spike to him, he pointed over to the sofa in the living room.

"Put him there" he ordered.

She did as he wanted and placed Spike's sleeping body down on the soft sofa in the living room. She then came back into the kitchen with a look of anger on her face. "There. I did as you wanted. Now let my mom go", she demanded.

With a sudden amused look on his face, he rose an eyebrow towards her. "Let her go?"

She made a slow nod, "Yes you promised." With how he reacted towards her, she worried he was going to finish killing her just as she thought.

He chuckled deeply under his breath, "Heh I didn't promise shit."

Just as she figured. He lied and he was set on finish killing her mother. Anger rose up inside of her body. "Let her go! Let my mom go right now!"

He saw her getting more and more angry with her and found her anger towards him just amusing. "Or what, kiddo?" He was then suddenly struck hard in the face by Freya's firey punch. He was knocked hard into the wall and fell to his knees on the floor. He looked back up at Freya with both of her fists clenched tightly and the fire like aura surrounding them. As he stared at her face, he saw her angrily panting and tears swelling back in her eyes. He again made a deep laugh, "What? You gonna try to fight me?"

Her fists slightly shook while they were tightly clenched, "How could you do this? To the Chaotix? To my mother? To me?" She sniffed as she tried to hold back her tears, "Shadow...I...I looked up to you..."

He slightly rose an eyebrow as he stared back at her while he kneeled down on the floor.

"My father left when I was only a baby. I never even knew who he was. I went almost my entire life not knowing what it would be like to have someone even close to call a father until I met you..." While her watery eyes were fixed onto him, flashbacks between her and Shadow had entered her mind. She remembered he was there to teach her to fire a gun for the first time, to pilot the X-jet, supporting her and Midnight dating, and being there for her college graduation. She found it harder and harder to fight back her tears the more she remembered him being there for her and her mother.

 _"So...you're trying to convince me that Santa Claus actually exists?" Midnight asked while he sat at a large brown dining room table that had the rest of the group sitting around him._

 _The room everyone was in had dim lighting but the atmosphere was calm and quiet. The table was full of delicious food and there were a few candles set on it that helped to light the room they were in. The group were dressed in formal clothes that fit the festive mood._

 _Ker nodded towards Midnight while he had sat across from him, "Oh absolutely. I actually met him you know?"_

 _Freya who sat beside Midnight arched an eyebrow towards Ker and crossed her arms, "Wha? Get out of here."_

 _Ker once again nodded, "I'm serious!"_

 _Appex who sat besides Ker also gave him an unbelievable look. "Right", he spoke in a sarcastic tone._

 _Ker saw the group who sat at the table giving him all doubtful looks. He pointed towards himself, "Hey! Dirt old demon here! Hello!"_

 _"I call bullshit..." Nails spoke while she stuck her fork in the green beans that were on her plate._

 _Tikal who sat beside Nails turned to Ker, "If Santa's been around for like ever then why haven't I seen him? I'm old too."_

 _Ker slightly shrugged his shoulders and leaned his back against the chair he sat in while he looked over to the orange echidna who sat across from him. "Yeah but not as old as me."_

 _With a small smile on his face, Shadow sat back and listened to the group's conversation while Rouge sat beside him and fed Spike some baby food while he sat in a high chair near her._

 _Freya placed a finger under her chin while she slightly looked up, "Well I guess that would explain how he knew to get me that really expensive tool box I've been begging mom to get me for like ever." She looked across the table at her mother and gave her a sly look._

 _Joyce made a soft giggle towards her, "You should count yourself lucky you even made Santa's nice list because let me tell you I sure wasn't gonna get you that oversized tool box."_

 _Freya had made a sarcastic laugh back towards her, "Haha good one, mother."_

 _Joyce glanced over to Shadow with a sly look with him giving her the same look in return. She had then had something come across her mind. "Oh I better check on the pie."_

 _When Shadow saw her standing from her chair and walk towards the kitchen, he decided to get up from the table as well until Rouge gently placed her hand on his shoulder and whispered over to him._

 _"Where you going?"_

 _"I'm just gonna give her a hand in kitchen. I'll be back in a sec."_

 _"Okay, hun", she replied with a smile before she leaned in to give him a peck on the lips. When Shadow left to go look for Joyce, Rouge and the rest of the group had their attention on Espio who was speaking._

 _"Okay so does anyone wanna hear my personal Santa story?"_

 _Tonya placed her hand on his shoulder while she sat beside him and sighed heavily. "Does this have to do with anything from last year?"_

 _Espio made a small pause and shifted his eyes over to her, "...Maybe."_

 _Tonya slightly shook her head with a small teasing smile on her face. "Oh God..."_

 _"What? What happened last year was crazy and you know it. I don't care how lame it seems."_

 _Shadow could hear bits and pieces of the ongoing conversation in the dining room as he made his way into the kitchen to find Joyce. When he stepped into the kitchen, he saw her taking a pie out of the oven and setting it on the counter in front of her._

 _She stared at the pie and sighed heavily in frustration, "Oh damn it..."_

 _With a raised eyebrow, he walked over to her to look at the pie. "What's up?"_

 _She turned to him with a frustrated look, "I kept the pie in for too long and now it's ruined."_

 _Shadow leaned over and looked at the slightly burned pie and then back at Joyce with a teasing look on his face. "There's nothing wrong with the pie, Joyce. It's just...cajun styled."_

 _With his comment she couldn't help but to slip out a small laugh and playfully hit him in the shoulder, "Very funny, Shadow. I never knew you were such a comedian."_

 _He slightly shrugged his shoulders and leaned against the countertop while he spoke to her, "If it's one thing I learned from it being the holidays, you just gotta laugh a little you know? Being together...that's what it's all about."_

 _Her smile widened on her face while she made a nod. She didn't know how he did it but somehow he always managed to say just the right things. "By the way", she spoke in a low tone. "Thanks again for helping me surprise Freya with her gift. She's so happy."_

 _"Hey it's no problem. Besides if she wasn't talking about that damn tool box here, you better believe she was talking about it at work."_

 _She giggled softly under her breath and formed a warm smile towards him. "You know I'm glad you and everyone came over for dinner. For as long as I can remember it's just always been me and Freya."_

 _He made a small nod, "Well now it doesn't have to be that way anymore. Freya's part of the team now. She's family. That means you too."_

 _She had to admit that even with Freya in her life she had been lonely, but now that she had met Shadow and the rest of the Chaotix her home and life were as lively as ever. She had to think was this what it was like? Was this what she and Freya were missing for all these years? Despite not knowing each other for a long time, Shadow quickly grew close to her and Freya and the feeling was comforting. She made a small nod back towards him, "Yes...thank you, Shadow."_

 _He glanced back down at the pie and leaned away from the counter as he looked back towards her. "Come on. Let's get this crispy pie out for everyone to enjoy shall we?"_

 _"Yes well I hope everyone likes barbecue", she spoke with a laugh as she picked the pie off of the counter and began to walk into the dining room with him by her side._

Shadow watched as tears still streamed down Freya's face while she stared at him heartbroken and full of anger. It was obvious that she valued their time together ever since the day they met but he on the other hand didn't exactly feel the same way. He was merely just amused from her feelings towards him. He chuckled deeply, "Heh touching really..." He stood from the floor and exposed his fangs within his smirk as he spoke. "But I hate to break it to you. You're looking at the wrong guy to call daddy." He pointed to himself, "You see I don't give two shits about you or the rest of the Chaotix."

His words only hurt her worse and she couldn't believe what was coming out of his mouth. "That's not true..." The times they spent and shared together...did that not mean anything to him?

He slowly shook his head, "Oh if you only knew, Freya. The man I was before you met me. I was quite a mess..."

"...What do you mean?"

"Let me put it to you as simple as I can. The Shadow you think you know is an unstable piece of depressed selfish shit who will do about anything to get what he wants!"

She paused and did have a feeling deep down that Shadow did indeed go through a lot of hard times during his life even with the fact that he had to handle a lot of people hating him for being a half demon. She had no doubt that he have some sort of mental instability. "...What? But what about Rouge?" Even if he did go through a lot of depression, she knew Rouge would be trying to help him in any way that she could.

"Heh being married to her is a joke." He shrugged his shoulders, "I mean hey in all honesty, she's a fucking catch but...why be an all powerful demon if you can't have a little fun with more than one bitch?"

"Wha...what are you..." Before she could finish, her words were cut off from him suddenly speaking again.

"You wanna know, Freya? Do you really wanna know how much of a selfish piece of shit I am?" A devious smirk formed on his lips, "Go ask the leader of The Royal Guardians. She'll tell you."

She paused for a moment as she tried to think of who the leader of The Royal Guardians team was. Her heart raced as the image of a brown chipmunk woman came to mind. "...M-miss Sally? And...you?" What was he getting at? Was he trying to say he and Sally had some kind of secret relationship?

He rose an eyebrow in amusement as he saw her shocked reaction. "What? Shocked? Or did everyone just think it was a coincidence we came back from our mission suddenly buddy buddy?"

She started trying to put the pieces together. She and everyone else knew Shadow and Sally hated each other before their mission and now they came back suddenly friends? It was all starting to make sense and she believed exactly what was going through her mind. Especially with him now just confirming it. "You.." she spoke in a low tone. "You cheated on Miss Rouge..." In uprising anger, she clenched her fists tightly, "You bastard...you fucking bastard!"

He saw her suddenly coming towards him with her fists swinging at him. He easily dodged all of her attempted punches against him and grabbed her wrist. With ease, he took her by her wrist and threw her entire body against the wall.

She hit the wall and fell to the floor with tears streaming from her eyes as she turned back to him angrily. "You're right", she spoke in a hoarse and broken tone. "You are selfish. I can't believe I used to look up to you..." She had came to realization that the man she thought Shadow was didn't even exist. Everything he said and done to her, the team, and his family. It didn't mean anything and it was all a lie.

He laughed deeply and found it amusing to see her so ripped apart and heartbroken. "Truth hurts huh?"

Her eyes fell upon the body of her unconscious mother once again and the only thing that went through her mind and body was pure anger. She took her eyes away from her body and flashed them back towards Shadow who stood across from her. If she didn't have the motivation to fight him before, she knew she had it now.

He watched her standing back from the floor and coming towards him again with her clenched fists that had the fire like aura surrounding them. When she tried to punch him, he stepped to the side to dodge it and grabbed her wrist. As soon as he did, he was quickly struck in his lower stomach by her other fist.

Once he eased his grip from her wrist, she snatched it away from him and used her elbow to knock him away from her. When she saw his back meeting the wall, she came charging towards him again.

Before she could attack him again, he had caught her fist in his hand. While he held her back, the fire surrounding her fist had burned his hand. While he felt the burning sensation, he lowly groaned in pain and forcefully shoved her body into the kitchen table knocking her and the table down onto the floor.

All of the sounds of commotion going on in the kitchen had immediately woken Spike and his loud crying was now heard.

While ignoring Spike's loud crying, Shadow only had his attention set on Freya while he stepped over to her. "You always had a lot of determination, kiddo", he angrily growled. Before he allowed her to get back up from the floor, he leaned over to her and grabbed her tightly around her neck pinning her body down to the floor.

While trying to gasp for air, she tried pulling away from him but his grip around her was too strong. Before she could try attempt to blast him with a fire attack, she had then felt a sharp pain being struck in the side of her stomach. Her eyes widened as the pain she suddenly felt shot through her body. Something struck her with a sharp point. It felt like a knife. She let out a loud groan from the pain and she could feel her shirt becoming soaked with blood from where she was stabbed. Before she knew it, the knife was removed and then forced back into her side once again. Another loud groan had escaped her. She could feel her body getting weaker and everything was starting to get blurry. She was starting to even get short of breath. When she felt the knife being jerked back out of her side, she saw Shadow leaning over top her body with a sinister look on his face while he taunted her by showing her the bloody knife he had found on the kitchen floor. Her sight was becoming more and more blurry but she saw him holding the knife close to him and licking the blood from the blade before tossing it to the side.

At this point, he knew he no longer had to use any of his strength to hold her down. He released his hand from around her neck and looked down upon her with a menacing look. He could tell in her eyes that she was on the verge of holding on. "It's a real shame. I was going to kill your mother right in front of your fucking face. But it looks like you won't live to see it."

She found it hard to keep her eyes open and she had trouble trying to breathe. "Sha...Shadow..." She spoke in a tone as low as a whisper. She then saw him lean in close to her.

When he leaned over to her, he whispered into her ear, "Don't worry. I'll make sure your death is slow and painful."

This was it. This was how it was going to end and to be honest she would have never saw this coming. She would die by the hands of one of the few people she had admired the most. She shut her eyes tightly when she felt him ripping her shirt enough to expose her bare shoulder. More tears streamed down her face as she could feel his breath getting closer go her shoulder. She took one last deep breath as she awaited for his fangs to start tearing into her flesh.

"Get off of her!"

As soon as she heard a sudden male's voice shouting, she had then felt Shadow's body being forcefully shoved off of hers and heard the sounds of grunting and struggling. She opened her eyes and turned her head only to see a black wolf pinning Shadow's body against the wall. "Mid...night..." She called out in a low and weak voice.

Midnight struggled to restrain Shadow by pinning his wrists to the wall as he tried to fight him off of him. "Damn you!" He shouted in anger. "I won't let you kill her!"

Shadow gritted his fangs and used his knee to strike him in the stomach and then take his elbow to hit him in the chest to knock him away from him. "Piss off, Midnight!"

Before he gave him a chance to come towards him, Midnight took out a silver magnum from his holster and pointed it at him to fire a round at him.

The powerful bullet was fired into his shoulder and it was enough to stop him in his tracks. He heavily huffed as he held his bleeding shoulder and glared over at Midnight. "You blessed it?" He huffed.

Midnight held the magnum tighter in his hand and didn't dare to point it away from him. "Don't make me blow your fucking head off, Shadow", he warned in an angered tone.

Shadow had to admit that the bullet did weaken him but he knew he could still fight. His eyes caught sight of Spike who was still crying in the other room. He decided that it was best to go ahead and take Spike and deal with Midnight later. He shifted his eyes back over to Midnight before darting over into the living room

As soon as Midnight saw Shadow rush into the living room, he fired another round but missed and hit the wall instead. He then ran into the living room ready to shoot him again but froze when he saw him having Spike in his arms.

He saw Midnight hesitating and made a sly and cunning smile towards him while presenting the still crying child at him."You wouldn't shoot a baby would you?"

As much as he hated it, he was right. At that point, he realized he couldn't do a thing. He was using Spike as a shield and he worried his further actions would become unpredictable.

Shadow securely held the crying child close to him while glaring towards Midnight. "This isn't over", he lowly growled. "Chaos Control!"

Midnight had then helplessly watched as a flash of white light lit up the room and saw Shadow vanish afterwards. "Damn it..." His ears had then perked up when he heard groaning coming from the kitchen. The groans of pain were coming from Freya. "Freya..." He placed his gun back in his holster and rushed back into the kitchen. "Freya!" When he stepped back into the kitchen, he paused as he saw Joyce's unconscious body laying on the floor in a puddle of blood that came from the flesh that was missing out of the side of her neck. There was so much blood and it didn't look like she was breathing. "Oh God", he spoke in a low tone. "Joyce..." When he heard groaning coming from Freya once again, he turned away from Joyce's body and looked over to see Freya's body laying in her own blood from the injuries on the side of her stomach. "Freya!" He quickly rushed over and kneeled down beside her. As he examined her weak body, she was still alive but barely breathing. Her eyes were barely even open. His eyes looked around her neck and shoulders and didn't see any bites marks or any missing pieces of flesh missing from her. He figured he arrived just in time before Shadow could start eating from her body. His eyes had then slowly traveled down at the side of her stomach and saw that her shirt was completely soaked in blood from where she was stabbed. There was so much blood escaping from her wound. "Oh God, Freya..."

"Sha...Shadow..." She had spoke out of breath as she tried to breathe.

He took his fingers and gently stroked through her hair and hushed her softly. "It's okay. He's gone but I put a tracking device on him. The others...they'll stop him." He quickly remembered him trying to restrain Shadow when he first caught sight of him and swiftly placed the small device onto the collar of his shirt. He saw her tears still slowly streaming down her wet face.

"It...it hurts..." she wheezed weakly.

"Hang on, Freya. I'll call an ambulance. You and your mom are going to be okay."

When she saw him stand up from the floor and take his phone out of his pants pocket, she watched as he began to start dialing. As she continued to watch him, her eyes slowly closed shut.

 **Author's Note: Looks like things are looking pretty grim! Not only did Shadow get away with Spike but Freya and her mom aren't looking too good! Will they both meet their fate? And will Shadow and Rouge ever be stopped? Find out in chapter 14 coming at you soon! btw I would write a Christmas flashback after Christmas... xD**

 **Also if you all follow me, I'm working on a surprise project! I'm super excited for it and I hope you guys will love it! So keep a close eye out! Anyway see you guys on the flipside!**

 **In The Next Chapter...**

 **Espio: Got ya!**

 **Luke: This ends now!**

 **Shadow:...The Chaotix and The Council?**

 **Rouge: It's a trap!  
**

 **Shadow: It's gonna take more than that to defeat me!**

 **Sonic: I'll stop you myself. Count on it...**


	14. Chapter 14

**CHAPTER 14**

Later at The Nest, Devil casually strolled his way down the dark and grim hallways within abandoned orphanage. As he walked, he noticed how strangely quiet it was. He figured that most of the others were simply just out doing whatever. When he strolled past the doorway of an open room, he had caught sight of someone standing in the middle of the room in the corner of his eye. He paused and then took a step back to look back into the small dark bedroom. His eyes fell upon Angel who stood in the center of the room with her mindlessly staring at the messy bed that set in front of her. The longer he had stared at her actions, he began to wonder if she even noticed him looking at her. It was a few seconds and she still didn't turn her head towards the doorway. He figured she was deep in thought about something. He decided to slowly step into the dark and quiet room she was in. "...Angel?"

When she heard her name suddenly being called, the white rabbit girl had snapped out of her daze and spun around to turn to Devil stood at the doorway. "Oh! Brother?"

He took another step inside of the room to confront her now that he had finally gotten her attention. "What are you doing here?"

A small blush formed on her face as she shyly answered him, "I wanted to see if Darkness-san was in here."

No one in within The Nest actually had an actual room they had claimed but since Darkness had joined The Dark Alliance, the room they were in was one of the rooms he often spent the most time in. He slightly rose an eyebrow after hearing her strange reply, "He's not here. He went out with Rouge to take care of some business. That's what he told me anyway..." He had then saw her crossing her arms in annoyance it seemed.

A slight huff escaped her as she crossed her arms and shifted her eyes away from Devil, "Of course he's with her..."

He couldn't help but to tilt his head slightly in confusion. He had a deep feeling that Angel wasn't very fond of Rouge and he was pretty sure it wasn't from the fact that she was once their enemy. He then saw her annoyed look turn into a saddened one. "...What's up?"

"I don't know if I can wait any longer..."

Reading her emotions were practically impossible at this point. He had wondered what had made her so emotional so suddenly. "Huh?"

While her eyes looked down at the floor, a small smile had then appeared on her lips, "I really want Darkness-san to notice me."

The answers on what was causing Angel to get so emotional had then hit him like a train. It was like he thought all along. The way she would always blush and get shy whenever Shadow was anywhere near her. It was clear. Angel was apparently head over heels in love with Shadow. He let out a heavy sigh and placed a hand to his hip with him looking towards her with a disappointed look on his face. "Angel", he spoke. "I hate to break it to you but Darkness will never acknowledge you. Let alone respect you."

Her ears twitched as she heard his sudden and blunt spoken words towards her. Her eyes flashed over to him in confusion. "...Why do you say that?"

"Well for one he's clearly into older women and with you taking on the form of a younger girl, I can see why he doesn't look twice at you."

She paused for a moment and narrowed her eyes downwards to look down at her body. She slowly raised her hand and placed it onto her flat chest. She bit her lip slightly as she began to realize that Devil was right. If she wanted him to love her, her taking on the form of a little girl wouldn't be acceptable.

When he noticed her silence, he figured she was beginning to understand what he was trying to say. He then saw a saddened look slowly appear on her face as she glanced around her body. His intentions were never to ruin her confidence and he wanted to let her know that wasn't the only issue with her trying to get his attention. "But I wouldn't get too concerned with that. You're wasting your time trying to get him to simply even look in your direction."

She took her hand away from her chest looked back over to him with a confused look, "But why?"

"Because Angel, the guy doesn't give a damn about you or anyone else for that matter. He's a selfish demon who will do anything to get what he wants."

She didn't understand. She thought like everyone else, he would be excited for Shadow's alliance with them. But it seemed that he was against him and she couldn't figure out why. What could've caused this to happen? Did the two have some sort of disagreement? She gave him a cold and angry glare, "What? What are you talking about? You don't know anything! You're just jealous because he's stronger than you!"

Like he figured. She definitely didn't agree with what he had to say about him. He didn't want to tell her everything that he and Shadow had discussed in the white room. One false move and he feared for the worst and it wouldn't be just for his sake. "He's stronger than a lot of us and that's what concerns me..."

Was this what it was all about? Was he just afraid that Shadow would kill him? He was clearly intimidated by him and she figured if he thought that he wasn't any good for The Dark Alliance, he would attempt to turn her against him as well. She clenched her fists angrily, "You'll see. Darkness-san knows what he's doing and I will pledge my eternal life to him!"

He sighed heavily as he tried to convince her that having Shadow around was just bad news for them all but it seemed that he wasn't getting through to her. "Angel..." He had then saw her angrily stomping her way past him and storming her way out of the room. When she left him alone in the dark room, he stood there and wondered what actually lied in store for him and the rest of The Dark Alliance.

Meanwhile behind a park bench in Azul Park, Rouge sunk her sharp fangs into the shoulder of an already dead woman that laid on the ground. She continued to bite into the half eaten shoulder of the woman hungrily. After when she chewed and swallowed down some of the flesh from the dead body, she picked her head up and cleaned her bloody fingers by licking the blood away from them. She sighed happily and tried to wipe away some of the blood from around her mouth. "All that fighting sure did wear me out. How fortunate a mortal was walking around here at the dead of night." She was then startled when a white light flashed from behind her. She spun around and saw a black and red hedgehog approaching her with a white blanket in his arms. "Darkness", she called. "There you are." She walked over to him with her eyes directed at the white blanket he held in his hands. "Did you get him?" She looked closer and saw a baby black hedgehog looking back at her with a happy look on his face. Her face lit up in excitement as she stared at the hedgehog baby, "Ah you found him."

"Yes it appears he was being kept over at Freya's place all along." He saw her extending her hands out as she wanted to hold him in her arms. He carefully handed over him to her so she could hold him.

"So how did everything go?" She asked while slowly cradling the happy child in her arms.

A devious look overcame his face as he remembered his encounter with Freya when he arrived at her house to get Spike. "Let's just say we have one less detective to worry about. What about on your end?"

She turned back at him with a slight look of disappointment. "Wish I could say the same. Before I could turn Ker, the rest of The Chaotix cornered me..." Her words were cut off when Shadow had suddenly shouted at her angrily.

"You what!"

She paused and had no idea what she had said to suddenly upset him. "...Um?" Suddenly she was grabbed by the collar of her suit. He had pulled her over to him so hard, she almost lost grip of Spike.

He pulled her face close to his and locked his eyes angrily into hers. "Did you sire him?" Before she could speak, he had jerked her by her collar again. "Did you fucking sire him?" He repeated angrily.

"Ker?" She nervously shook her head, "N-No. I didn't get a chance to sire anyone." She didn't understand why he was so upset. She thought that was what he had wanted her to do.

With a heavy sigh of relief, he released his grip from her, "Good."

Before she could question the reason why he had gotten angry with her, she was then suddenly punched in the face hard enough to be knocked down to the ground. When she lost her balance and fell she made sure to hold onto Spike tightly in her arms so he wouldn't get hurt. When she fell, she heard immediate terrified crying coming from the child in her arms.

He took a step over to her and fixed his eyes angrily at her while she laid on the ground with his fists clenched. "You are not to sire anyone unless I or Lord Dark gives you permission to! Do you understand?"

When she slowly sat her body up from the ground, she could feel blood slowly running from her nose from where he had punched her. She slightly flinched when he heard his angry and demanding voice again.

"I said do you fucking understand me?"

She feared if she didn't quickly reply, the next time he would hit her it would also put Spike in danger as well. At this point, his actions towards her would become unpredictable. She made a small nod and held the crying child close to her. "Yes..."

"Yes...what?"

She bit her lip nervously as she feared she had again said the wrong thing to him. "Yes, Darkness."

"Good girl", he had then reached his hand out towards her to help her off from the ground.

Once he helped her to her feet, she saw him again reaching back towards her and reached down towards the knife holster that was around her leg. She again flinched as he quickly took the knife out of the holster. Her eyes saw him carelessly holding the knife in his hand. Her nerves were shot. What was he going to do with the knife? As she watched him toyed with the knife, her eyes widened when he took the blade of it and suddenly slashed it through the palm of his hand. She had then saw him slowly approach her while holding out his hand that dripped with his blood. She saw his red eyes shift downwards to Spike who was still crying in her arms.

"Now shut him up while I try to get him to drink my blood", he spoke in a low and harsh tone.

She didn't hesitate and obeyed every command he had spoken. She slightly cradled him in her arms and softly hushed him as Shadow's slowly stepped over to her while holding out his bleeding hand.

"Listen to me", he spoke. "If for some reason I can't turn him, I want you to do everything in your power to make him a demon. I don't care what you have to do."

She looked back at up at him with a surprised look on her face while he stood in front of her giving her a dead serious expression. He had just lashed out to her for trying to sire someone and now he was giving her actual permission to do so. But of course it was just for Spike.

He continued, "If we can't turn him, then all of this would've been in vain."

She made a nod letting him know that she understood his commands, "Yes, Darkness." She then saw him hovering his bloody hand above Spike. Some of his blood had even dripped on the top of his head.

As Spike slowly calmed down, his watery green eyes were directed up at the blood running from Shadow's hand in curiosity.

Shadow witnessed the child becoming silent as this was his first time seeing blood close up and feeling the thick substance dripping onto him. "You will be the demon you were born to become. I'll be sure of that..." As his bloody hand got closer towards him, he had paused when he heard the clicking of a gun and a male voice suddenly shouting out.

"Stop right there!"

He and Rouge turned only to find Espio standing across from them and pointing a handgun towards Shadow. Tonya, Charmy, Appex, and Ker were also by his side.

In annoyance, Shadow lowered his hand away from Spike and flashed his eyes over towards the purple chameleon, "Espio..."

Espio's eyes locked with his while his finger stayed securely on the trigger of the gun.

Rouge arched an eyebrow in confusion as she tried to think of the reason how they had found them and so fast. "H-how did they find us so quickly?"

Espio started to explain while he didn't take his eyes away from Shadow. "Once we figured out what was going on, I gave Midnight a tracking device. So when he met up with you, I made sure he was to place a tracker on you."

Shadow's eyes widened in surprise, "What?" He began to search around his clothes until Rouge had picked something off from under the collar of his shirt. He spun around and saw her having a small and strange gray device in the palm of her hand.

"It was all a trap", she watched as Shadow took the device out of her hand and held it up towards the group of detectives.

"Very impressive", he spoke in a low and bitter tone as he clenched the device tightly in his grip. The group watched as the pieces of the destroyed device had sprinkled all over the ground. "But you should've known better than try to find me. It's like you're eager to just die." A devious and evil smirk formed on his lips, "Besides I'm not sure how you're gonna defeat me especially when you're a little short handed on help this evening."

Espio knew right then he was referring to Freya and hearing him bring up the matter just made his blood boil. "Shut up! Because of you, Freya's in the hospital! And if she dies, Shadow I swear to God..."

Just seeing Espio's angry reaction had made the devious smile on his lips widen. "Or you'll what? Kill me?" He laughed evilly.

Tonya had a feeling that Shadow figured they would try to go easy on him because deep down the Shadow they all knew and loved was still somewhere inside of him. She didn't dare want him to think that they would drop their guard against him. She took out her bladed tessens and took a step forward with a determined look on her face. "Shadow, we don't want to fight you."

While hiding behind a huge bush that was further away from the group, Tikal sat on the ground and bit her lip with a nervous look on her face as she heard Shadow and Tonya exchange banter with each other. A shiver went down her spine as she heard Shadow's cold and menacing threats.

"Yeah trust me. That would be a grave mistake."

Her body slightly shook nervously until she saw Nails reaching her hand out towards her to gently caress the side of her face. She looked up and saw the black bat woman who sat on the grass across from her.

She saw how nervous Tikal was and tried to calm her down a bit. A small and comforting smile formed on her face, "Hey everything's going to be okay", she spoke in soft whisper that was enough for her to hear.

Tikal placed her hand over hers while it still slightly caressed the side of her face. Her eyes glanced down at the open book that set on the ground in front of them both. She then looked back up at her. "But what if this doesn't work?"

"Trust me. It will", she slowly took her hand away from the side of her face and held it out in front of Tikal. "As long as you're here with me. I can't do this alone, hun."

For her and Shadow and Rouge's sake, Tikal placed her worries behind her and carefully placed her hand into Nails. "I'm with you, Nails."

Charmy couldn't take his eyes away from Shadow. He couldn't help but to even feel a dark essence that was radiating from his body. He wanted to believe that the Shadow they all saw before them wasn't the Shadow they knew from before. "Please Shadow, let us help you. This...this isn't you."

"Idiots", Shadow growled harshly. "This is me", he spoke while he raised out his hand towards the group. "The real me."

When Appex saw a green aura glowing around his hand, his eyes widened. "Get back!"

When Shadow unleashed a blast of Chaos energy towards them, the group of detectives scattered to avoid his attack. The blast was so powerful, it shot a deep indent into the ground.

Charmy's eyes glanced at the ground from where the blast had struck and then back at Espio who kneeled down next to him. "This won't be easy..."

Espio replied back to Charmy as he didn't take his eyes away from the dark hedgehog who stood across from them. "We have to keep him distracted so Nails and Tikal can cast the spell to seal his powers away", he spoke lowly.

Charmy made a nod in agreement, "Right. So you got a game plan?"

The group quickly ran back over to Espio to hear what he had planned to do.

Once Tonya helped him stand from the ground, Espio focused his attention to the group who were awaiting a strategy plan from him. He turned to Ker, "Ker, you and I will take care of Shadow." He then looked back at the rest of the group, "I'm leaving Rouge up to the rest of you."

Appex made a nod as he understood his plan, "Right."

Before everyone went their separate ways, he mentioned one last thing, "Be careful though. Remember they have Spike."

Once everyone made a nod, another green blast was fired in their direction but had struck a tree branch above them instead. Everyone once again scattered and began to carry on with Espio's plan.

Shadow saw the group of detectives scatter away from each other and figured that they had some sort of plan to try to defeat him. He turned back to Rouge who still held Spike securely in her arms. "Remember what I said. Do whatever you must."

Rouge made a nod as she remembered what he had told her previously and watched as he began to walk over to confront Espio and Ker. Her eyes then fell upon the knife Shadow used to cut his hand with laying down on the ground. She picked the knife off from the ground. She held the blade up near her chest and used it to slash it against her chest. She looked down at the laughing child who had happily looked into her eyes. A smirk formed on her lips, "You hungry, sweetie?"

Ker's eyes widened in horror as he watched what Rouge was about to do. He quickly raised his hand up towards her as he was ready to attack her, "No!"

Shadow saw him about to attack Rouge and gritted his fangs, "I don't think so..." When he disappeared with the flash of white light, he suddenly appeared behind him to use Chaos Spear to attack him.

When Espio saw Ker fall to the ground, his yellow eyes flashed over to Shadow who had looked in his direction as well. "...Chaos Control...", he muttered under his breath.

A smirk formed on Shadow's lips as his eyes locked with his, "You can't defeat me."

Ker picked his body up from the ground and held out his hand towards him, "We'll see about that, Shadow."

When Shadow spun back around to him, he raised his hand towards him and unleashed a blast of energy the same time as Ker. When they both fired blasts towards each other, the two blasts of energy collided causing it to form an even bigger blast that was strong enough to knock them all back onto the ground.

Tonya, Appex, and Charmy squinched from the bright light of the blast until the light faded from the attack. Tonya looked over to Rouge who was still holding Spike dangerously close to the blood that was running down her chest. She turned back to Appex and Charmy and pointed towards Rouge. "Let's go!" She shouted as they all started to make their way towards Rouge in attempt to grab Spike from her.

Tikal's body flinched after when she heard the giant blast of energy near her. She had a feeling that the battle that was now taking place would only get dangerous from there. She snapped out of her worried thoughts when Nails gently squeezed her hand while she held it. She looked back over to her and saw her giving her a comforting look letting her know that everything would work out.

"Come on, Tikal. Let's do it", she spoke before slowly shutting her eyes to start concentrating on the spell they were both about to cast.

When Tikal saw her close her eyes, she made a slow nod before she had done the same.

Rouge took her attention away from Spike when she heard Tonya angrily shouting out to her.

"Rouge!"

When Rouge looked ahead of her, she saw Tonya standing across from her with Charmy and Appex beside her with them all standing in fighting stances. She flashed her fangs within her devious smile, "Tonya..."

With her eyes angrily fixed on her, Tonya held up her bladed tessens in a tight grip, "We can do this the easy way or the hard way", she threatened.

"You're making a big mistake, Tonya. Don't interfere with our plans", she spoke before she reached her hand out towards her.

Appex watched as her black glove had suddenly took the form of a huge strange gun that seemed similar from what she used to blast a hole through the wall of the agency earlier. The design was just slightly different and the size of the barrel was a lot slimmer and smaller. His eyes widened as he saw a red laser being blasted from the barrel and towards Tonya. He let out a gasp, "Look out, Ton!" He ran over to her to quickly push her out of the way which made the red laser miss her and hit a tree that was further behind her.

With them both laying on the ground next to each other, Tonya let out a heavy sigh of relief and turned to Appex. "Thanks, Appex."

When Shadow stood from the ground after being shot back from the blast he and Ker shot at each other, he angrily glared at Espio and Ker who gave him the same look in return, "Bastards..."

Before Espio and Ker could make an attempt to fight him again, they saw him suddenly vanish with a white flash of light.

Ker clenched his fists angrily and began to glance around them to look for any sight of Shadow. "He disappeared!"

Espio had carefully done the same and continued to remain vigilant, "Damn it", he swore lowly. "How can we fight him when he keeps pulling this shit?" He then saw Ker suddenly being blasted to the ground from behind. When he spun around, he was tackled to the ground by Shadow. While he tried holding him back by grabbing his hands, he saw him trying to lunge at him with his sharp fangs.

"I'll fucking eat your heart out, Espio!" He shouted menacingly.

He didn't know how much longer he could hold him back. Especially when the green aura that formed around his hands had began to burn his hands.

He formed a wide and evil smirk when he heard his painful cries from the Chaos energy that burned his hands. While the green energy had burned his hands, he witnessed his strength getting weaker and weaker. He made an evil laugh, "You're no match for me."

"Get off of him!" Ker had blasted a white blast of energy towards him that was enough to knock him off of Espio's body at quite a good distance. When he saw Shadow being knocked to the ground, he quickly ran over to kneel beside Espio to aid him. "Espio, are you okay?"

Espio bit his lip and clenched his burned hands as he tried to endure the searing pain. While he heavily panted, he took a deep breath and tried to fight back the pain, "I'm...I'm fine."

Charmy glared over at Rouge who now had her sights set on Appex while he made sure Tonya was okay. He gritted his teeth when he saw her pointing the strange gun back at them. He began to reach around his belt holster until he found one of his daggers. "Enough is enough!" He shouted before throwing the point of the dagger out towards Rouge's direction.

Charmy had thrown the dagger so quick and swiftly, she didn't have the time to try to dodge it. The point of the dagger sunk into her hand which was the same one she used to hold Spike.

When Appex saw her groaning in pain from her hand being stabbed, he flashed his eyes over at Charmy. "Charmy! Watch it! You trying to take Spike out too?"

Charmy had then realized he had thrown the dagger way to close to Spike. One wrong move and he could've injured Spike or worse. An apologetic look had formed on his face, "Uh, right. S-sorry!"

Tonya focused her attention over at Rouge who was now trying to get the dagger out of her hand. She murmured under her breath, "Now's the chance..."

Appex and Charmy had then watched as Tonya suddenly ran over to Rouge and forcefully tackled her down to the ground causing Spike to fly out of her hands.

When Tonya tried to hold Rouge down to the ground, she yelled out to Charmy, "Now, Charmy!"

Once Charmy realized what she had done, he quickly jumped up and used his wings to fly up in mid air and catch Spike safely in his arms. "Got ya!" He kneeled to the ground and looked down at Spike to make sure he was okay. He caught sight of him looking happy to see him by giggling. He sighed in relief as he securely held him in his arms, "Don't scare us like that again okay?"

"No!" Before Rouge could attempt to get back from the ground, Tonya quickly took a combat knife and used it to stab her deeply in the shoulder. When she heard more painful groaning coming from her, she tried her best to not let up her grip from around the knife she continued to press down into her shoulder. She realized she had to do everything in her power to make sure Rouge stayed down. She gave her a sympathetic look as she tried to fight back her personal emotions, "Sorry, Rouge..."

Shadow's ears perked up when he heard Rouge crying in pain. He glanced over and saw Tonya pinning Rouge down to the ground and Spike now in Charmy's possession. He gritted his fangs in annoyance, "That's enough..." When he turned and he saw Espio and Ker coming towards him once again. He held out his hand that had a yellow aura surrounding it, "Chaos Spear!" When he hit Espio and Ker with his attack, he saw them both flying back to the ground. Afterwards, he spun back around and set his sights on Tonya who was still on top of Rouge.

As Rouge continued to struggle to get Tonya off of her, she watched as she was suddenly hit in the back with one of Shadow's attacks. When she saw her in pain from the attack, she used her foot and forcefully kicked her body off of hers. "Bitch!"

Appex and Charmy hopelessly watched as Ker, Espio, and Tonya were weakly laying down on the ground after Shadow's attacks against them. They kept their distance and prepared for the worst.

While Shadow approached Rouge, he watched her take the knife Tonya had stabbed her with out of her shoulder and threw it down to the ground. He then spun around to turn to Charmy and Appex and held out his hand to them ready to blast them with another attack, "Now to finish you off once and for all..." When he began to approach them, he suddenly stopped in his tracks and then fell to his knees as if his body had completely froze.

Rouge saw what was happening to him and didn't understand what was holding him back. "Darkness, what's wrong?"

With his head directed downward, he gritted his fangs and dug his fingertips into the ground as he tried to fight off the strange force that had froze his body. "What's is this? I can't move..."

A relieved look had formed on Charmy's face when he figured Nails and Tikal were finally working on the spell that was supposed to lock away Shadow's demonic powers. "It's working..."

Shadow continued to try to fight off of the strange force that was holding his body down to the ground. "What the hell is going on?"

Tikal securely held onto Nails' hand and continued to chant the repetitive spell along with her. She slightly opened her eyes when she felt her hand loosen from her grip. She looked and saw blood slowly running from Nails' nose and saw signs of her appearing in pain. Her heart began to race. She wondered what was happening and what they were doing wrong. "N-Nails!" She called out in worry, "St-Stop! The spell is hurting you!"

She slightly shook her head and continued to have her eyes shut. "We can't stop now. We've come too far to fail."

Tikal slightly shook her head as she realized she couldn't bare to see her in any kind of pain. "No..." She slipped her hand from hers to cancel the spell.

Once she felt Tikal release her hand from hers, she opened her eyes and gave her an unbelievable look while she held her hand back out to her so she could take it again. "Tikal, what are you doing? Give me your hand!"

She again shook her head as she refused, "No! I won't do it!" When a flash of green light struck into a tree near them, Tikal had ducked and covered her head while she let out a terrified scream.

With him no longer under the control of the spell, Shadow stood there and continued to hold his hand up near the bush Tikal and Nails were apparently hiding behind. "Nails and Tikal!" He angrily shouted, "I should've known! Leave it to you bitches to try to lock my powers away!"

It was apparent they were spotted but before they could attempt to run, Shadow had used his power to Chaos Control himself in front of them.

When Nails saw him raising his glowing green hand towards Tikal, she quickly threw her body in front of her to protect her. "No!"

Before he could blast the both of them, he was suddenly shot in the shoulder with a powerful bullet that was enough to knock him away from them and have him hit the ground.

Everyone turned and saw Luke holding a hand canon up from where he had shot Shadow. Besides him stood Amethyst, Leon, Sally, and Sonic.

A relieved look formed on Espio's face as he saw the group. "Luke! And the rest of The Council!"

"About time they showed up", Appex spoke bitterly. He knew The Council was going to meet up with them all eventually. He just didn't know what had taken them so long to do so.

After witnessing Luke shooting Shadow with the powerful weapon, Rouge ran over to him in worry, "Darkness!"

Shadow sat up from the ground and held his bleeding shoulder from where the powerful bullet had struck him. His red eyes flashed over to Luke and the others who stood next to him. "The rest of The Council is here. Great", he muttered angrily.

In annoyance, Rouge shifted her eyes over at the group as well, "Should've known this was coming. Especially when The Chaotix were apparently tracking you." There was no other explanation. The Council and The Chaotix must have came up with a plan to track Shadow and when the time was right, they would all ambush him together.

"Well it looks like we finally meet face to face, Darkness", Luke spoke while he continued to keep his grip securely around the handle of his gun. "I'm sure it's been a thrill ride for you but we would really like to have our old Shadow back."

A small smirk had then formed on his lips while he stood from the ground, "I hate to break it to you Luke, but I am the real Shadow."

"Bullshit", Luke huffed under his breath angrily.

Amethyst took a step forward and wondered if she could attempt to reason with him rather than fight him. "Shadow, enough is enough. Just give up and come with us."

She tried not to show it but from the inside, Sally stood there a nervous wreck. As her eyes fell upon him, the only thing that she thought about was the awful mistake she had made when she made contact with him while not knowing what was actually going on. Her heart had sank deeper and deeper as she was constantly hit with those painful flashbacks. She slowly clenched her fists tightly, "Shadow..." she murmured in a low tone.

Even when she said it lowly, Shadow still heard her slip his name out loud and clear. He shifted his eyes over to her while he had a sly smirk on his face. "Princess Sally Acorn. Fancy meeting you here, your highness."

Just hearing call out to her made her entire body quiver. She felt like she couldn't take her eyes from his until Sonic suddenly stepped in front of her to protect her.

With his fists tightly clenched in anger, Sonic sent the dark hedgehog a cold glare. "We'll stop you, Shadow", he growled angrily. "Count on it."

While letting out an evil laugh, Shadow slowly clenched his fists, "You fools! You think you can actually stop me together?" A red aura started to glow aroud his body, "Even united it still won't be enough to defeat me!" With his fists clenched, he stepped forward towards the group of detectives with an evil smile on his face. "Chaos Blast!" When the red aura released from his body, it formed a huge blast of red energy that was enough to knock everyone back to the ground and spread everyone away from each other. Rouge was even blown back from the blast.

While everyone was trying to gather their strength, Shadow heard Spike's crying coming from Charmy's arms. He saw that Charmy had protected him from the blast and he appeared not harmed. He was just scared from witnessing the blast. With everyone down, he figured this was the best time to get Spike back in his possession. "You idiots actually thought you had a chance to beat me? Well you were mistaken..."

While laying on the ground and groaning in pain, Sonic weakly watched as Shadow began to approach Spike. "N-No..."

When Shadow stepped closer towards Charmy and Spike, he was suddenly tackled to the ground by a fast moving blue blur.

Sally lifted her head from the ground and saw Sonic and Shadow both on the ground. "S-Sonic!"

Shadow sat up from the ground and glared over at the blue hedgehog who laid across from him on the ground. "Blue idiot..."

When Sonic saw him about to attack him, he rolled over on his back and tried to stop him from attacking him but he had grabbed him by his wrists and pinned them down to the ground. Sonic struggled to get him off of his body but he was too strong. "Shadow!"

Shadow's grip around his wrists didn't loosen up. He looked down at the blue hedgehog with a blood thirsty look in his eyes. "You're just determined to be the first in line to die eh, Sonic?"

Sonic looked into Shadow's red and menacing eyes to show him that he wasn't intimidated by him or his threats. "I'll stop you, Shadow! I swear it!"

With an evil smile, he leaned over to him to talk lowly in his ear. "Oh yeah? And what makes you so sure that you will?"

"I have to", he spoke in a low tone only for Shadow to hear. "For Sally's sake."

He paused for a moment and calmly rose an eyebrow as he directed his full attention back to the blue hedgehog. "...Sally?" Perhaps he knew what he and Sally had done. If that was the case, then this would explain Sonic's determination to take him down.

"I know...I know what you did to her you bastard", he growled angrily.

It was confirmed. He did know what happened between him and Sally but judging by how he only wanted him to hear what he had to say about it, no one else knew what happened. When he noticed his rage clearly burning up inside of him, he was determined to make him feel even more furious. "Oh? Well in that case..."

In a blink of an eye, Sonic saw Shadow suddenly disappearing from the on top of his body. "Huh?"

When Sally saw him suddenly vanish, she stood from the ground and began to look around until the dark hedgehog reappeared in front of her and grabbed her by her wrist. "No!"

Shadow held onto her wrist tightly and flashed his fangs at her, "...I'll be sure to do it all over again." He yanked her wrist so hard her body jerked closer to his. "But this time..." he spoke in a low tone so only she could hear. "I'll make sure you don't feel an ounce of fucking pleasure..." He growled.

Sonic saw him confronting Sally and had his hand grabbed around her wrist. His eyes widened when he started to hear speak out.

"Chaos..."

Sonic's body quickly shot up from the ground. He knew exactly what was going to happen. He was going to Chaos Control with Sally in his possession. But the question was where and why? He had a horrible feeling it would be somewhere secluded and he would do only God knows what to her. He quickly started to make his way over to them. "No!"

"...Control!"

Sally had then felt her body forcefully being shoved out of Shadow's grip and fell to the ground. Once she fell, a white light flashed in the corner of her eye. By the time she turned Sonic and Shadow were gone. "...So-Sonic?"

The rest of the group searched around them but there was no sight of the two hedgehogs.

Luke looked and looked and still he saw no sight of the two. "Where did they go?"

Sally stood back up from the ground and hopelessly wondered where Shadow and Sonic both were. "Sonic..."

 **Author's Note: Hey, guys! Long time no see! Sorry it's been awhile! Trying to get done a few projects and whatnot. Perhaps some of you have read my Valentine's Day oneshot? 'You're Mine.' If not, I'd really appreciate it if you guys checked it out! I've been getting some pretty good feedback on it which is great because I am starting to reach out to other ideas and experiment. But no that doesn't mean I'll stop writing shadouge stories. That's not me. I've just become more open minded about other couples. Which hint...hint! It's all gonna show in due time. **

**btw has anyone else notice the spamming of really bad stories being written in the fandom or is it all just me? I'm getting pretty tired of seeing it tbh. Joke or not. These badly written stories are getting quite old. Anyway here's another long awaited chapter! More is on the way! So sit tight! The long awaited battle between Sonic and Shadow happens in the next chapter! Get stoked! See you guys on the flipside!**

 **In The Next Chapter...**

 **Midnight: I'm so sorry, Freya...**

 **Freya: There was so much...blood...**

 **Sonic: You'll pay for what you've done to Sally!**

 **Shadow: Raped her? Hehe okay then...**

 **Sonic: I'll fucking kill you!**

 **Shadow: Give me your best shot, blue idiot!**


	15. Chapter 15

**CHAPTER 15**

Meanwhile at the Tech City Hospital, Midnight was sitting in a brown wooden chair within the quiet and deserted waiting room hallway. The walls, ceiling, and floors were all white making the hallway very eerie feeling. He heard nothing but the sound of the receptionist typing on the keyboard of the computer sitting in front of them. He had his head lowered down towards the floor and had his eyes directed down to his hands while he nervously fiddled with his fingers. All he had on his mind was Freya and her mother. He recalled seeing them both laying on their kitchen floor with their unresponsive bodies surrounded in a pool of their own blood. He wanted to cling to hope that they were both okay but judging from their injuries it just didn't seem hopeful. He slightly bit his lip, 'Freya, please be okay...' His ears perked up when he heard footsteps approaching towards him. He picked up his head from the floor and turned to a woman nurse walking towards him with a clipboard in her hand. Judging by her facial expression, it looked like she had nothing but bad news. He anxiously got up from his seat and walked over to her. "Well? How are they?"

With still a bitter expression on her face, she held the clipboard up and glanced down the paper that was attached to it. "Joyce is still in critical condition. She hasn't woken up since she was brought here. She's not only lost a lot of blood but she's also suffering from a concussion from being struck at the side of the head."

His hands slightly shook and he found it suddenly hard to swallow after hearing the nurse's feedback. "...But...she's going to be okay?"

The nurse looked away from the clipboard and gave him a sympathetic look, "They will do everything in their power to try to get her to come back to us."

He made a slight yet nervous nod as he understood the situation with Joyce. His heart raced as he prepared to ask her about Freya's condition. He didn't know if he could take anymore bad news. "...What about Freya?"

The nurse looked back down at the clipboard and flipped to the next page to read off of it. "Her daughter..."

He slowly clenched his fists that slightly shook while he stood there eagerly waiting for her to report Freya's status.

"She's still in a lot of pain but she is awake and recovering slowly." Once she looked away from the clipboard, she saw Midnight eagerly take a step forward to her.

"She's alive? Can I see her?" He asked in a demanding tone.

She could tell in his eyes that he desperately wanted to see her but she knew her job was just to do as she was told to do and part of that was to not allow visitors to see Freya at the moment. "She needs to rest and recover..." Her words were cut off when she saw his eyes of desperation lock with hers.

"Please", he begged. "Just let me see her even if it's just for a moment."

She had a feeling he would take no for an answer regardless but at the same time, she didn't see the harm of allowing him to see her for a short amount of time. She made a small nod towards him started to lead him down the hallway and towards the room Freya was being kept in. Once she lead him to the door of the room, she placed her hand on the doorknob and quietly turned it to open it. She turned to him and stepped to the side, "Please be quick."

When she allowed him to step inside of the room, he heard her quietly closing the door behind him. He stood there at the doorway with his body frozen as he gazed upon the bed setting near the window of the room with white curtains covering the view from the night sky. His eyes fell upon Freya who laid in the bed with her body being covered in white blankets. Her head was turned towards the window so he couldn't see her face. He slowly began to walk over towards the bed. He spotted a black metal chair that was near him and pulled it up beside the bed. He sat in the chair and studied her body that appeared to lay still in the bed. He caught sight of the heart monitor on the table beside him and the many wires that were attached to different parts of her body. He couldn't see it because her body was covered under the blankets but he could only imagine how many bandages were covering the side of her stomach from where she was stabbed. He knew she was awake but she never turned her head to look in his direction. He bit his lip before he began to speak out to her. "...Freya? It's me. Midnight." He paused and waited for a response but he heard nothing coming from her. He didn't know what was possibly going through her mind. Perhaps she was upset with him. If that was the case, he never felt more guilty about anything in his life. His eyes looked down to the floor, "I...I'm so glad you're okay. I thought...I thought I was going to lose you..." When his eyes caught sight of her hand that was laying on top of the blankets, he slowly started to extend his hand towards hers. His actions froze when he heard her suddenly speak.

"There was..."

His eyes shifted over to see if she turned her head to face him but she was still looking towards the window.

"There was...so much...blood..."

It didn't take him long to figure that she was still in shock and traumatized after with what had happened. Before Shadow had the chance to completely kill ker, he had to wonder what all he had said to her and what he had done to her. What sick and twisted things did he say to her? The guilt was tearing him apart from the inside. "...I'm sorry, Freya. I should've gotten there quicker. If I got to you sooner, you and your mother wouldn't be here in this hospital." He placed his hand on the side of his head while he looked down to the floor in sadness. "I can't imagine the pain you must be in..."

While she still had her head turned away from him, her hands slowly clenched the white bed sheets. Tears streamed from her eyes and fell onto the white pillow she had laid her head on. "So...much...blood..."

Meanwhile, a flash of white light appeared in the middle of the dark and deserted streets within the west district of Tech City. Out of the white light, Sonic was forcefully pushed out and shoved away from the dark hedgehog that came out of the white light. Sonic fell down onto the wet pavement of the road that they were both in the middle of. He sat up from the wet pavement and turned to the black and red hedgehog who stood across from him with his eyes coldly glaring at him.

"My, my", he spoke in a bitter tone as he took a step forward to him, "What a heroic thing you did. Jumping in the middle of my Chaos Control while trying to save your precious girlfriend."

He stood up from the wet ground and turned to him angrily, "I won't stand by and let you hurt her, you bastard!"

He arched an eyebrow in amusement, "Oh really?" A green aura surrounded around his hand, "And what makes you think I won't hurt you?" When he held out his glowing green hand towards him, a green blast of energy was shot towards him.

When Sonic saw the blast coming in his direction, he used his super speed and jumped out of the way before it had hit him.

"You're a fool to try to take me on, Sonic."

Sonic turned back to him with a same hateful look on his face, "Someone has to stop you and what better person to do it than me?"

He rose an eyebrow, "You? Don't make me laugh."

He clenched his fists tightly as it angered him to hear him mock him, "Shut up! I know you're not really Shadow anymore but that's no damn excuse for what you did!"

With a cunning smirk on his face, he crossed his arms. "Enlighten me."

"Don't pretend like you don't know!" He shouted while he angrily pointed towards him, "You! You raped Sally, you bastard!"

He paused for a moment and then began to suddenly laugh hysterically. "Raped her? Heh okay then!"

It only made his blood boil even more after hearing him laugh. "Shut up! You think this is funny? How could you! How could you do something like that to her! I thought you and her were friends!"

He shrugged his shoulder and started to slowly pace around the wet pavement, "I honestly don't know what the hell you're talking about. But as far as Sally goes. She's a disgrace to herself and her standards. She acts high and mighty and puts herself on this fucking pedestal thinking she really is royalty. She's a fucking joke to herself and The Council." His red eyes locked with Sonic's as he slightly licked his lips while flashing his fangs, "She means nothing to me and I should've snapped her neck when I had the chance."

"Enough!" He shouted, "I won't let you talk that way about her!" While using his super speed, he charged over to him and forcefully shoved his back into the door of a nearby parked car.

While he had him pinned against the door of the car, he grabbed him by his wrists to hold him back. "Oh? Someone's angry", he laughed deeply. "Blue idiot", he growled. "We'll see who is more superior. Your speed or my Chaos powers..."

When he saw his hands glowing a green color, he immediately felt an intense and searing burn from where he had held his wrists. While he groaned in pain from the burn, his body was then kicked away from his. When he was kicked away from him, it didn't take him long to come back charging towards him.

When he saw him running towards him once again, an evil smirk calmly formed on his lips. "Chaos Control..." he muttered under his breath.

Sonic had suddenly froze in his tracks and found himself standing in one place while. He was still well aware of what was going on. He just couldn't move his body. He saw Shadow calmly and slowly pacing around his frozen body.

"You always wanted to witness Chaos Control didn't you? Well here it is in all its glory." He leaned over to whisper in his ear, "Terrifying power am I right? I could kill you in literally an instant. It'd be so quick, you wouldn't be able to feel pain from your death." He leaned away from him and sighed, "But what fun would that be? I would much rather hear you suffer and die slow." He held up two fingers and snapped them together causing Sonic's body to unfreeze.

He practically lost his balance once he was released from his hold on him. He spun around to turn back to Shadow. "Wha? Was that...Chaos Control?"

He made a small nod, "Sure was and you know what that means..." He spoke as he placed both of his hands in his pants pockets.

In the blink of an eye, he saw Shadow disappear within a flash of white light. Before he could try to locate him, he was blasted in the back and was knocked down to the ground. He laid there on the ground with his back burned from the searing Chaos energy. He turned to him who approach him with both of his glowing green hands being held up towards him.

"It means you're fucking screwed, Sonic!" He reached down to him and grabbed him roughly by his arm while the Chaos energy burned his flesh. His evil smile widened as he heard his loud cries of pain. "Your speed doesn't mean shit if it can't match my level of power!"

He tried to push Shadow away from him but couldn't, "Shadow, don't do this!"

"You talk a lot of shit, Sonic! It's time to put up or shut the fuck up!" When his grip tightened around his arm, he had then threw his entire body towards a large glass window of a nearby bar.

When the glass shattered, everyone within the bar had jumped up and shouted in fright from it. It wasn't long before the dark hedgehog jumped through the broken window and stood there to glance around the silent bar to look for the blue hedgehog. All he saw was the scared expressions of the people that were within the bar and no sign of Sonic anywhere.

The bartender who stood behind the bar counter nervously turned to the black and red hedgehog. "What? What the hell is going on here?"

Shadow's eyes flashed over to the bartender in annoyance, "Blue hedgehog", he growled lowly. "Has anyone seen a blue hedgehog?"

With the silent and nervous looks on their faces, the entire bar continued to remain quiet.

Shadow knew that someone had to have seen Sonic. How could they have missed him? But then again he thought back to how fast Sonic's speed ability really was. For all he knew everyone probably just ended up seeing nothing but a blue blur and nothing more. But someone in the bar had to know where he was.

The bartender's body slightly shook as he saw the dark hedgehog slowly taking steps within the bar. He didn't know what was going on but he just knew he was trouble. "I don't know what the hell is going on but I'm calling the police!" Once he tried to reach for the phone, the phone was suddenly blown into pieces by a green blast of energy that came from the black and red hedgehog. He turned back and saw the hedgehog's hand glowing a green color towards him.

"Yeah you might don't wanna do that", Shadow warned.

"Shadow!"

Once he heard the familiar male voice call out to him, he started to glance around the bar. He recognized the voice. It was Sonic's but he didn't know where he was hiding.

"You leave these people out of this! This is between you and me!"

"Okay then if this is about us then why don't you just come out and face me?" He waited for a response but didn't hear anything else from him. "...Or are you just afraid of my power? It's funny because you don't even know the half of what I can do."

Sonic who was hiding behind the bar counter could see Shadow's reflection with one of the wine bottles that were up on the shelf in front of him. He made sure his body was completely down and lowered behind the bar counter while he sat on the wooden floor. He saw Shadow turning towards a male biker that was standing near him. He had then saw the biker strangely starting to approach him. His ears twitched as he heard the biker shout out.

"Wha? What's going on? I can't stop my body!"

Sonic had then caught sight of the biker standing in front of him and then saw him taking out a pocket knife from the pocket of his jeans. His eyes widened as he saw him take the blade of the knife and hold it up near the side of his neck. '...Telekinesis? He has telekinesis?'

"What is this?"

Sonic's heart raced and placed his hand over his mouth in horror as he watched the biker starting to continuously stab himself in the neck over and over again. Blood spewed from from his neck and covered the entire knife and his hand. As he watched, his stomach turned from witnessing such a sight. All he could hear was terrified screams from everyone else in the bar. Now that he had seen that taking place, he realized what a monster he truly was. 'Oh God...Oh my God...'

When Shadow turned away from him, the biker's dead body fell to the floor with a loud thump while dropping the blood covered knife beside him. Afterward, Shadow watched as the biker fell dead to the floor while dropping the knife he had once held. He glanced around the bar once again, "Face it. You will never be able to stop me. You're nothing more than a weak and feeble mortal just as the rest."

"You...you're wrong", Sonic had spoke in an angry tone. "If there's one thing that's given me strength, it's my newfound goal to stop you and rest of The Dark Alliance."

"You can't stop me" he growled.

"You don't think I can?"

As he heard Sonic continue to speak, it didn't take him much longer to figure out that he was hiding behind the bar counter all this time.

Sonic had then saw Shadow starting to step towards the bar counter. He then took the barrel of a shotgun and placed it onto the surface of the counter to point it towards him. "Well watch me, motherfucker!" When he pulled the trigger, a powerful round was fired from the gun and shot him directly in the chest. The impact was so strong, it was enough to knock him back out of the broken window of the bar.

Sonic quickly stood up from behind the counter and placed the shotgun he found down onto the counter. He turned to the terrified bartender with a small smile, "Thanks for letting me borrow that."

Before the bartender could say anything, he watched as Sonic leapt away from the counter and jumped his way out of the broken window he had knocked Shadow through.

While sitting up from the wet pavement he was laying on, he placed his hand over the gunshot wound on his chest from where Sonic had shot him. He looked away from his bloody wound and back at Sonic who stood in front of him with both his fists clenched. A smirk formed on his lips as he stood from the ground, "Smart of you to know that a lot of bartender's have guns behind the counter. But it still won't be enough to defeat me." He stood in a fighting stance with his hands glowing green. "You will die by my hands, Sonic." Before he could take another step forward to him, he paused when a bright white light had shined on both him and Sonic. He tried to cover his eyes to help keep the light out of his eyes. "What the hell?"

Sonic tried to keep the light out of his eyes as well. He and Shadow had then heard a male voice shouting at them.

"Surrender now, Shadow The Hedgehog!"

Shadow and Sonic turned and saw a male yellow lion wearing a black G.U.N. uniform aiming a rifle towards Shadow.

Sonic's mouth dropped as he saw the sight of the military commander. "...Commander Grey?"

His grip remained tight on the rifle while he held it up towards Shadow. "Shadow The Hedgehog, under the orders of Mayor Sarah Wish and the G.U.N. military, you're under arrest!"

 **Author's Note: Sup, guys! Long time no see! Sorry for the wait with updates and whatnot. Been pretty busy with other things and all. Anyway I thought I should clear some things up...**

 **In my last update, some jackass decided to leave a pretty review stating that I'm trashing other people's stories. I think this guy took my comment and read it completely out of context. I would NEVER trash anyone's story and say that mine is better. Last time I checked this is a place where all writers can be free and creative of their own ideas. It doesn't matter if someone thinks one story is superior than another's. The only actual thing I was referring to was the spamming of stories with words up to 20-100 words. You guys know what I'm talking about and it can get annoying to see. Especially when that's not remotely close to it being an actual story.**

 **But yeah if anyone felt offended by that comment, I apologize to the delicate flowers out there and I've said it before and I'll say it again. I only pay attention to constructive criticism. A negative and flat out mean comment I could honestly care less about. I'm here to write and have fun. Share positivity with one another. For God's sake. This is just all for fun. Don't take shit seriously because I sure as hell don't.**

 **Anyway enough rambling! Sonic discovered a new hidden ability from Darkness! And as if he couldn't get anymore terrifying! Will he and Commander Grey put a stop to him? Find out in the next chapter coming at you soon! Hope you enjoyed the chapter and I will see you guys on the flipside!**

 **In The Next Chapter...**

 **Leon: We finally have the upper hand here.**

 **Charmy: He-hey! Don't hurt her!**

 **Leon: We should kill her now!**

 **Scourge: Time to crash this little party!**

 **Luke: Scourge?**

 **Sarah: Sha-Shadow?**

 **Shadow: Hello Mayor Sarah Wish...**


	16. Chapter 16

**CHAPTER 16**

Scourge lazily stretched out his arms while he walked through Azul Park with Fiona by his side. "I'm so glad I stepped out of that fucking orphanage. All everyone's talking about is Darkness this. Darkness that. I'm fucking sick of it!"

Fiona arched an eyebrow towards him in amusement, "What? You still butthurt he embarrassed you in front of everyone?" It was obvious the two didn't get along anyway but she remembered how Shadow managed to impress everyone with how he revealed his powers on Scourge.

After her bringing it up, it did strike a nerve within him. He had to admit that it did bother him that Shadow made a fool out of him in front of everyone. But he was determined more than ever to not back down towards him ever again. He shifted his eyes over to her in annoyance, "That's not the point!"

Fiona had then stopped in her tracks and watched as Scourge continued to walk, "Scourge, it's okay that you feel threatened by him..."

When he noticed that she stopped walking, he stopped as well and spun around to face her. He admitted to himself that yes he felt intimidated by him but he sure didn't want others to think it. Especially Fiona. "What? Who the hell ever said..."

Fiona had then nervously looked down towards the ground, "To be honest...he kinda creeps me out too." She looked away from the ground and looked back at him. "I mean just look at him. Just look at what he can do and whatever the hell else he has packing." She anxiously crossed her arms and shifted her eyes away from him, "I don't know, Scourge. I just...have a bad feeling about him..."

Scourge paused and realized how suddenly nervous Fiona became. Did Shadow really have such a strong impact on everyone like this? "Fi, do you think he's stronger than Dark?"

She paused as she couldn't believe those words came from his mouth. Was he that worried about Shadow and his power? If he was this concerned, this only made her even more nervous. "...I don't know..." The two were startled when they heard the sounds of fighting happening near them.

Scourge began to look around them to see if he saw anything, "What the hell is that?" He asked in a low voice.

Fiona looked around as well until she saw The Chaotix and what appeared to be The Council surrounding a white bat woman who was kneeling down to the ground. By the look of her condition, she seemed very weak and didn't look well. She gasped when she realized who the bat woman was. "It's Rouge!"

"What?" Scourge was then tugged on by the sleeve of his black jacket by Fiona and pulled down with her behind a large bush that was near them. He peeked his head slightly from the bush and saw the detectives having Rouge surrounded, "Wh-where the hell is Shadow?"

Fiona slightly shook her head as she wondered the same thing, "I don't know but she's in trouble."

He had then slightly moved back away from the bush they both hide behind and held out his hands. "Oh no! I'm not getting involved with whatever the hell is going on over there!"

Fiona turned back to him with a serious look, "Hey! Like it or not, Rouge is part of The Dark Alliance and if something happens to her, what makes you think Shadow won't assure the same for us?"

He gritted his teeth in aggravation and let out a heavy sigh as he realized that she was right. If something did happen to her and anyone found out they knew about it, it would be bad news on their end. "Fine..."

Rouge huffed heavily in exhaustion from fighting the detectives that surrounded her. When she attempted to stand from the ground, a large silver cross was being held near her. A low growl escaped her as she backed away from the cross Leon had held up near her.

Leon continued to hold the cross securely in his hand, "Not so powerful now huh, demon?"

Charmy held Spike close to him as he stared in worry at Leon holding the cross up towards Rouge. "H-Hey! Be careful!"

Amethyst stepped towards her and used her black staff to point it down towards Rouge. "You may be strong but united, we are stronger!"

"And with Shadow gone, that definitely gives us some leverage", Leon added.

"They're right", Nails turned to Tikal. "With her down and Shadow not here, we can use this opportunity to try the spell again."

Once Tikal heard Nails' suggestion, she quickly shook her head, "No way! You remember what happened the last time? Casting that spell is dangerous!"

Nails could somewhat understand where Tikal was coming from but despite the dangers of it, she knew it all had to be done. "Wha? But, Tikal..."

Leon saw a disagreement about to start and he at the moment didn't have the patience for it. "Forget the spell! I say we kill her now!"

Luke heard Luke's suggestion and was immediately against the idea. "No we can't!"

Espio feared things would get out of control when The Council arrived. There was already tension between everyone for what they all wanted to do about the situation. He had to be sure that everyone was on the same page with each other. Before he could speak out, he and everyone else had heard a sudden male voice speaking out.

"I don't think so..."

Everyone jumped back when they saw Scourge and Fiona swiftly make their way to stand beside Rouge.

Amethyst placed her hand over her mouth at the sight of the red fox woman, "Fiona!"

Luke angrily gritted his teeth at the sight of the green hedgehog, "Scourge..."

While Fiona helped Rouge from the ground, Scourge smirked evilly towards the group while he waved around the double barreled magnum in his hand. "Well, well long time no see..."

Luke didn't bother to drop his guard especially when he saw the magnum being waved around in Scourge's hand. "I don't know what you want but this doesn't concern you!"

"Screw you", Scourge spat. "This concerns us plenty!" He let out a slight sigh as he looked at the group of detectives that seemed surprised to see them. "...Talk about a reunion eh? Wish we could stay but we do have better things to attend to..."

Once Fiona saw him look back at her, she quickly took out a light blue colored grenade from her black belt holster and held it up in the air.

Appex's eyes widened at the sight of it. "Grenade!" Before he or anyone else could take cover, they were all blinded by a bright flash of white light when Fiona had thrown the grenade down on the ground.

After when everyone unshielded their eyes with their hands, they looked and saw that Scourge and Fiona had disappeared with Rouge in their possession.

"A flash grenade", Amethyst muttered under her breath in relief. She was just thankful that Fiona had thrown down a flash grenade rather than an actual one.

"Shit!" Leon swore as he looked around them. "They got away!"

"And with Rouge..." Tonya added sadly.

Nails angrily slammed her fist down into the palm of her hand, "Damn it! We almost had it!"

Sally crossed her arms and had a worried look on her face, "But Sonic and Shadow are still missing..."

"Without a tracker on either of them, we don't have any idea where they could be", Ker spoke.

Espio had made a heavy sigh as he felt hopefully useless. "All we can do is hope that they're both still alive."

With both a look of worry and guilt on her face, Sally sadly looked down to the ground, 'Sonic...'

Meanwhile, Sonic squinched his eyes as he tried to see through the white bright lights of the military truck that was parked directly in front of him and Shadow. He slightly caught sight of Trevor confronting them and pointing the barrel of a rifle towards Shadow. "Co-Commander Grey?"

Trevor tightly held the rifle in his hands while he pointed it towards Shadow, "Surrender now, Shadow!"

The dark hedgehog rose an eyebrow in amusement towards him and didn't seem at all threatened by him. "Seriously, Trevor? You think you can stop me?"

He clearly saw how unthreatened he was towards him but still didn't bother to back down. "I'm serious, Shadow! Don't make me do this!"

A deep laugh escaped him, "Heh well let me make things easier for you."

As soon as he saw Shadow suddenly vanish in front of him, he was sent flying to the pavement with a powerful kick to the back from behind causing him to drop his gun.

Sonic gasped as he witnessed Shadow attacking Trevor. "Commander Grey!" Before Shadow could attack him again while he was on the ground, he used his super speed to run to his aid.

When Trevor saw Shadow standing above him with his hand glowing yellow, he flinched as he knew he would attack him.

"No!" Before Shadow could harm him any further Sonic ran up to him and smacked his hand away making him aim for the large military truck instead. As soon as his attack had hit the truck, everyone took cover as the truck had suddenly exploded in front of them. Sonic fell back onto the ground beside Trevor and watched as the truck was now being engulfed into flames. Sonic's green eyes fell upon the dark hedgehog who stood in front of the flames and was looking back at them with a sinister look.

"Mark my words", Shadow growled under his breath. "The Council along with the G.U.N. military will fall before me and The Dark Alliance."

Sonic and Trevor laid there on the ground with their mouths hung open while they both were trying to take in how strong Shadow actually was.

"You can't stop me. No one can", he spoke in an evil tone before. "Chaos Control!"

Sonic and Trevor watched as Shadow had then disappeared within a flash of white light. After a brief moment of silence between the two, Sonic turned to Trevor who had a worried look on his face. "...What are we gonna do now?"

While Trevor's eyes mindlessly stared at the flames that were engulfing the now completely destroyed truck, he had to wonder the same thing. What were they going to do now?

Meanwhile, Sarah was in her office, sitting at her large desk writing out some paperwork. The office was pretty dark. The only bit of lighting only came from her dim desk lamp. She was almost done finishing her paperwork until she felt a sudden and slight chill coming from behind her. She picked her head up from her desk and turned behind her to find the window behind her open. She recalled that the window had been closed all day so why was it suddenly open. At that moment, she knew something or someone was now in the office along with her. She decided she had better find a weapon and fast. When she turned back around, her eyes were then locked with Shadow's blood red eyes. She gasped at the sight of the hedgehog who was kneeling on the surface of her desk and looking her dead in the face.

"Hello, Mayor Sarah Wish" he growled in a threatening tone.

"Sha-Shadow!" Before she could attempt to get away from him, he quickly extended his hand and grabbed her around her neck roughly. She gasped for air while she tried to get out of his grip.

He stood from the desk and took her body to slam her back hard against the wall behind her. "How pathetic", he growled. "Sending The Council and your dog of the military out to do your dirty work. If you're so concerned about getting rid of me. Then do it your fucking self!"

She tried to take his hand away from her neck but his grip was too strong. "Sha-Shadow", she gasped.

"Just know this, Sarah. Whatever you throw at me, it won't work. I'll easily deflect anything you have in store for me. You can't beat me." He then took her by her neck and threw her body down onto the floor. While began to cough as she tried to gasp for air. He began to slowly approach her while she saw on the floor. As he looked down at her, he could see the terror in her eyes. "That's right. Take a good look. This is exactly what you fucking get for having a demon work alongside you and your Council. I can't fucking believe you put your faith in me. The one person on the entire Council that has the power to kill you and everything you ever worked hard for. Stupid bitch", he laughed deeply.

"Shadow", she spoke out of breath. "I know you're still in there. Don't do this. This isn't you."

He rose an eyebrow, "This isn't me?" He let out a small laugh, "Don't act like you know everything about me! You don't know shit! Shadow and I are one with each other after all. You have no idea what's going through Shadow's head when he thinks of you and this bloody Council..."

When Sarah saw a green aura form around his hand, she flinched and closed her eyes tightly awaiting her painful death until she heard the door to the office being flung open.

"Stop right there!"

Sarah opened her eyes and saw Bunnie standing at the doorway while pointing a handgun towards Shadow.

Shadow turned to the rabbit woman and had an amused look on his face, "How pathetic..."

"Bunnie!" Sarah shouted. "Kill him! Kill him now!"

After hearing Sarah's orders, she didn't bother to hesitate when she fired a round towards the hedgehog. Before the bullet could touch him, her eyes widened in amazement as the bullet suddenly stopped in front of his face. "Wha-what?"

In shock, Sarah saw how Shadow focused on the bullet he had apparently stopped and saw it suddenly fly back towards Bunnie and shot her in her shoulder. "Bunnie!"

With a loud cry of pain from the bullet being sunk into her shoulder, Bunnie fell to the floor while holding her bloody shoulder.

Sarah's eyes widened in horror from the sight. Her terrified eyes looked back over to the hedgehog. "What...what the hell are you..." She flinched when she saw him kneel down in front of her and grabbed under her chin to make her look him in the eyes.

"I'm just full of surprises aren't I?" His grip under her chin had tightened, "Let that be a little warning, Miss Wish. I'm far more powerful than you think I am. So don't fuck with me!"

When he snatched his hand away from her chin, she watched as he stood in the center of the room and flashed his fangs to her while he spoke.

"Chaos Control."

When he had disappeared within the flash of light, Sarah's eyes shifted over to Bunnie who sat there on the floor across from her holding her bleeding shoulder from the bullet. As she stared at the blood running down her arm, she bit her lip and lowered her head down to the floor. She angrily gripped her fingertips onto the floor and shut her eyes tightly, "What is he? Just...what the fuck is he?"

 **Author's Note: Sorry for the short chapter. Next one will be a little longer. R &R please!**

 **In The Next Chapter...**

 **Dark: I think we've all waited long enough don't you agree?**

 **Sky: A city in darkness...**

 **Sarah: Shadow is far more dangerous than any of us could possibly imagine.**

 **Espio: You can't do this, Sarah!**

 **Midnight: Are you going to be okay?**

 **Freya: I hope he suffers. In the worst way possible...**


	17. Chapter 17

**CHAPTER 17**

Later in the large and dark playroom of The Nest, Rouge had her back against the wall and crossed her arms in annoyance while she had her head turned away from Scourge who was speaking out to her. She heavily sighed under her breath, "I didn't need your help you know?"

Scourge arched an eyebrow towards her, "Didn't need my help? Didn't need my help?" He repeated angrily and pointed towards her, "Listen up, bat girl! If Fiona and I weren't there to step in, The Council would've blew out the little bit of brains you have left in your head!" He clenched both of his fists and stomped his foot down onto the floor, "Ungrateful bitch! We should've let them kill you dead when they had the chance!"

Fiona who stood behind him had reached out and placed her hand on his shoulder in attempt to settle him down. "Hey calm down will ya? It's already been said and done."

"Whatever. I don't care about that", Rouge spoke in an apathetic tone while glancing around the room. "Where is Darkness?"

Scourge placed his hands on his hips and shrugged his shoulders as he spoke in a mocking tone. "Yeah? Where is Darkness? Seems to me he decided to bail on you and left you for dead."

Rouge turned back to him with an angry look as she didn't want to believe him. "Shut up! You know nothing!"

Before Fiona had the chance to step in to break the two up from arguing, she heard Luthor's voice coming into the room.

"What's all the commotion in here?"

They turned and saw Luthor stepping into the room with Sky, Angel, and Devil by his side.

Scourge made a sly look as he turned to the group. "Oh nothing much really. Everyone's favorite demon prince decided to run off...again."

Angel had placed her hands on the sides of her face and gasped, "Darkness-san?"

Rouge gritted her fangs in anger. She didn't know how much longer she could take Scourge's insults. She suddenly stormed her way over to him and shoved his back against the wall. "You shut your mouth about him right now or I'll..."

When he shoved her body back away from his, she had took her hand and grabbed him around his neck roughly. Though he knew she was strong, he knew he could take her on. "Or you'll what?"

Before Rouge could do anything else, a familiar male voice was heard within the room.

"If you know what's good for you, Scourge..."

The group turned and saw none other than Shadow standing near the entrance of the playroom.

"...Stay away from her", Shadow had warned.

When Rouge caught sight of Shadow, she released her grip from Scourge and ran over towards Shadow in relief. "Darkness!"

Scourge held his neck from where Rouge had grabbed him and watched as Rouge happily ran into his arms. A bitter look formed on his face as he watched her hug him. "Well look who decided to finally join the party. Hope your little outing was worth sacrificing your own wife over."

Shadow turned to him with an annoyed look, "What we were doing out there is none of your business."

"Considering we all stay under one roof, I think it is my business", Scourge growled as he began to step closer to him.

Fiona looked back and forth at the two and just knew another fight between them was about to take place. "Scourge, come on..."

Sky slightly bit his lip as he could see another fight about to happen. "Oh crap..."

Luthor sighed heavily and placed his hand on the side of his head, "Here we go again..."

Angel nervously looked back and forth as Shadow and Scourge stepped closer and closer to each other. "Scourge! Leave Darkness-san alone!"

Devil nervously prepared to watch Shadow and Scourge about to get into another heated disagreement until they all heard Dark's voice enter the room.

"Now, now, children..."

Everyone turned and saw Dark casually making his way through the room.

"Settle down and let's not worry about such trivial things."

Despite Dark's remark, Scourge couldn't help but to flash his eyes over to Shadow.

Dark continued, "Besides I have an exciting announcement."

Devil watched as Dark made his way to the throne like chair that was setting front and center within the room. "Announcement?"

"Yes", he spoke while he sat down in his chair and focused his attention to the group of demons. "I think we've all waited long enough. The time to act is upon us."

Luthor rose an eyebrow in interest, "Sounds like you have a plan my lord."

"Indeed I do."

Sky rose an eyebrow, "What did you have in mind?"

Dark pointed towards Shadow, "Darkness, you and I are the only ones capable of having control over the Almas. And with that, we can use them to overrun this pathetic city and easily get rid of the mortals." He formed a devious smirk, "Starting at The Tech City Power Plant.

Everyone had still gave him a puzzling looks but were intrigued with where he was going with his plan.

Dark continued, "Once we shut off the city's power supply, it will definitely catch everyone off guard and leave the police and the military defenseless. And then we can easily overrun the city and then the world with a swarm of demons."

With him liking the idea, Shadow nodded in agreement towards his plan. "Heh that's not such a bad idea."

Angel clasped her hands together in excitement over the idea, "Amazing!"

Devil placed a finger under his chin and took interest in the plan as well. "A city in darkness..." he murmured under his breath.

While it appeared that everyone else was taking an interest in the idea, Sky stood there and had an uncomfortable look on his face.

When Dark saw the group liking and agreeing to the idea, he spoke out once again. "Everyone prepare yourselves because tomorrow night, everything will finally come to an end to this useless planet starting with Tech City."

It was early the next morning and Espio was in his office at The Chaotix. He was sitting at his desk looking through e-mails on his computer. He slightly groaned as he felt constant aches that throbbed throughout his body from the fight that had taken place last night in Azul Park. He took his hand and gently rubbed his aching shoulder. "God my body is killing me. If that damn hedgehog didn't wipe the floor with me..." He sighed heavily and tried to remain positive about bringing Shadow and Rouge back to their senses. A slight smile formed on his lips, "If everything goes back to normal, Shad's gonna have a heart attack when he sees that hole through the wall..." While he imagined how Shadow would react to seeing the agency a mess, he had then came across an incoming video message that was on the screen of his computer. He arched an eyebrow as he caught sigh of who was sending the message. "...A video message...from Miss Wish..." He started to click on it to answer the call, "I wonder what's going on..." When he clicked the video message, he saw live video footage of Sarah sitting at her desk looking at the screen of the computer she had set in front of her. Alongside her, he saw Bunnie standing on one side of her and Trevor was standing on the other side of her while she was sitting at her desk. He figured something had to be wrong if both Bunnie and Trevor were with her. "...Miss Sarah Wish? What's going on?"

She had her elbows resting on the surface of the desk she had leaned on while she looked directly at the computer screen. "Espio, good morning. I apologize for video chatting with you so suddenly but I have important information that you need to hear."

He rested his back against his black desk chair and crossed his arms. "All right then. I'm all ears. What's up?"

Once she had gotten his attention, she continued to speak, "I've already spoken to the rest of The Council and due to last night's encounter with Shadow and Rouge, we've all come to a decision."

"...A decision?"

She made a nod, "Yes. After witnessing Shadow's harsh actions, I think it's safe to say that he and Rouge are pretty far gone and we just can't risk anyone else's life to attempt to bring them back to us."

"...What are you saying?" He feared the next thing she was going to say wasn't going to be good news.

"I'm saying that they are both a much bigger threat than we thought. There is no other choice. They must be eliminated at all costs."

"What! Wa-wait a minute, Sarah! This isn't fair! You said..."

"I know what I said", she spoke in a firm voice. "But I don't think you understand the severity of the situation."

"But we have to help them!"

She saw the panicked and angered expression on his face and knew this would be much harder to explain to him than she thought it would. "Damn it, Espio! How can we help them if they're trying to do everything in their power to kill us?"

"It's not their fault and you know that!"

"It doesn't matter. They're dangerous!"

Espio took a deep breath and tried to calm himself as he realized his frustration was getting the best of him. "I know. Shadow's hard to take down because of his Chaos Control ability. I get it. But we can still find a way to..."

"He has telekinesis", Trevor suddenly spoke.

Espio's words trailed off when he heard Trevor suddenly begin talking. "...What?"

Trevor made a slight sigh before he repeated himself once again. "Shadow. He has telekinesis."

With a moment of trying to take in his words, he didn't want to believe what Trevor had just said. "What? That's impossible. The only ability Shadow gains is Chaos Control. Nothing more. If he had some kind of mind control then...what?" He slightly laughed under his breath, "He would practically be some kind of demonic God." He had then saw Bunnie look into the computer screen.

"I'm afraid Commander Grey isn't lying. When he met up with Sonic, he had told him he witnessed him using the ability on a civilian. He made the victim stab himself in the neck with a knife multiple times without even touching him. And he also broke into Miss Wish's office and used his power to fire my bullet back at me..."

Espio's body froze as he wanted to believe that what they were all saying wasn't true. "...But he didn't have that before. How...how is that possible?" He had then clenched his fist and angrily slammed it down onto his desk. "How did he learn fucking mind control?"

Sarah slowly shook her head, "I'm afraid I couldn't tell you, but perhaps this is one of many abilities he has hidden from us. If that's the case, we need to come at him and The Dark Alliance at full force."

He slowly shifted his eyes away from her and bit his lip nervously.

Sarah saw the disturbed look on his face and decided that he had to take some time to let all of the new information sink in. She heavily sighed, "Time is running out and I can no longer sit around and wait for a miracle to happen."

He directed his eyes back up at the computer screen and continued to listen to what else she had to say.

"This is officially Council business now. You and your team try to interfere then you will receive severe consequences. I'm sorry, Espio..."

Before he gave her the chance to end the video message on her end, Espio had suddenly closed the video with a disappointed look on his face. "Yeah. Me too..."

Meanwhile at The Tech City Hospital, Midnight roamed the busy halls within the hospital until he came across a closed door of a room. He glanced at the white door and read the temporary name plate that read 'Joyce.' He placed his hand on the doorknob and opened the door slowly. When he stepped inside he saw Freya sitting in a brown wooden chair beside the hospital bed within the room. When he closed the door behind him, Freya had slowly turned to look back at the doorway.

When he saw her turn to him, he didn't see her usual happy and cheerful smile. Instead her expression was completely tired and apathetic looking. It looked like she hadn't slept in days and it was clear that she had been crying. "Hey, Freya." When he walked over to her, he studied her condition and saw that she was wearing her white hospital gown with a few bandages that were visible around her arms from where she was injured. He tried to make it seem like he wasn't so focused on her appearance, "The nurses said you might be in here. You shouldn't really be out of bed and walking around..."

She turned her head away from him and looked over at the bed she was sitting beside. "I'm fine..."

When Midnight looked over at the bed, there he saw Joyce who laid there looking back at him with a small yet relieved smile on her face. As he stared at her, he saw that she had gauze wrapped around her her head from when Shadow struck the side of her head against the refrigerator that had knocked her unconscious. His eyes also caught sight of the white badages that were placed on the side of her neck from where he had taken a bite out of her. Just looking at her moving and even smiling, it was amazing that she was still somehow alive. Despite how she looked, she didn't seem to show any signs of actual pain. "Joyce..."

"Oh, Midnight. How nice it is to see you."

"Hello, Joyce. How are you feeling?"

She had then leaned her head back onto the pillow and placed her hand gently on her forehead. She slowly closed her eyes and shook her head slightly. "My goodness. I've had the craziest dream."

Midnight arched an eyebrow as he began to listen to her.

"I dreamed that Shadow came to my house last night and he looked completely different." She began to slightly laugh under her breath, "He had these glowing red eyes and razor sharp fangs. He looked like a monster", she continued to laugh lowly under her breath.

Midnight and Freya exchanged silent and concerned glances with each other while Joyce lowly laughed to herself. It was apparent due to her not showing any signs of pain that she was on really strong pain medication. With that and what had happened last night was clearly making her delusional.

With her even in that state, Freya still attempted to remind her about the events that actually happened last night. She leaned closer to her and placed her hand over hers while it was set on top of the white blankets of the bed. "But mom, that did happen. Shadow...he...attacked you. He's a demon, mom..."

She turned back to Freya with the same small and calming smile on her face. It looked like she wasn't bothered at all knowing that Shadow was a demon. "Oh he is? Well just when you thought you knew someone am I right?"

When more laughter came from her, Midnight gently placed his hand on Freya's shoulder and leaned close to her to whisper to her. "Your mother's in a lot of pain and under a lot of medication. I think now isn't the best time to discuss about what happened."

Freya shifted her eyes back over to her mother who had her eyes aimlessly wandering around the room. Just seeing her like this had angered her. "...She wouldn't be like this if it weren't for him..."

Midnight could tell she was getting more and more upset about the matter and decided that he should leave her to try to comfort Joyce. "Look I gotta head back and see what's going on with the others. You going to be okay here?"

With still an angry look on her face, she turned back to him. "I hope he suffers, Midnight."

He paused and knew that she was clearly talking about Shadow. All this time knowing her, he had never seen her so angry and hurt.

"In the worst way possible..."

After witnessing how enraged Freya was, he knew she had a newfound hatred towards the man she had once admired.

 **In The Next Chapter...**

 **Midnight: What's happening?**

 **Espio: It's official. The Council and G.U.N. are gonna stop Shadow and Rouge at all costs.**

 **Charmy: What? They're gonna kill them?**

 **Tonya: Hey is that...**

 **Espio:...Sonic?**

 **Sonic: Espio, we need to talk...**


	18. Chapter 18

**CHAPTER 18**

Later, Midnight made his way through the door of Nails' magic shop and stood at the doorway where he caught sight of everyone sitting at tables and facing Espio like he was giving them serious news.

When Espio heard the door open and close, he turned and saw Midnight approaching him and the rest of the group. "Midnight, you're here."

With his hands nervously in the pockets of his dark blue skinny jeans he made a small nod. "Yeah sorry I'm a little late."

"It's okay. I know you were just checking up on Freya."

Tonya who sat at one of the large round tables directed her attention towards the wolf with a worried look on her face. "How is she? Her and her mom?"

He let out a heavy sigh before he spoke. He didn't know where to even begin. The situation with the both of them were pretty dim. "The good news. They're both alive. The doctors say they'll be okay."

Tonya placed a hand on her chest and made a heavy sigh of relief, "Thank God..."

Charmy arched an eyebrow as he was curious about the bad news Midnight had to share. "...And the bad news?"

Midnight slightly bit his lip as his eyes nervously shifted away from the group. "The bad news...Joyce has kinda...lost her mind?" He slightly scratched the back of his head and sighed, "I think between the pain meds and what happened last night really fucked with her head." It still slightly disturbed him to see Joyce laying in the hospital bed and acting like everything was completely fine when in reality she made both him and Freya really uncomfortable with her actions.

While cradling Spike in her arms, Grace slightly shook her head in sadness. "Oh no. Poor Joyce..."

Tikal looked over to Midnight and wondered how Freya was dealing with the situation. "And Freya?"

He slightly bit his lip before replying to her, "...Um...she pretty much fucking hates Shadow..." He knew that she had began to deeply resent Shadow. Just remembering the anger and sadness in her eyes, made him worry about her.

Appex leaned his back against the wooden chair he was sitting in with an uneasy look on his face. "...Yikes..."

Espio already had the feeling that Freya would turn against Shadow. Especially after he had attacked her and her mother. "Well with what all happened, it's all an expected reaction", Espio turned back to the worried wolf, "Once we neutralize his powers, things will go back to normal." He wanted to believe that everything would be fine regardless. Shadow and Rouge would go back to being their normal selves and eventually everyone would forgive each other. Right?

Midnight looked at everyone's depressed expressions and figured the encounter with Shadow and Rouge didn't go as smoothly as they all wanted it to. "So I take it last night didn't go very well?"

Espio slowly shook his head and crossed his arms, "Nope and sadly the situation is only getting worse."

"How?"

Espio began to explain what had happened earlier that morning when Sarah had sent him a video message. "Miss Wish issued a Council wide message this morning stating that The Council and G.U.N. is out to gun down Shad and Rouge at all costs."

Midnight arched an eyebrow and had an unbelievable look on his face, "Wha-what? What does that mean?"

"It means", Ker spoke. "We're on our own if we wanna save Shadow and Rouge."

Midnight placed a finger under his chin while he was in thought. "So along with the rest of The Dark Alliance, they're both criminals? Class A criminals?"

Espio made a small nod, "...Yup..."

With a heavy sigh, Midnight started to slowly pace around the shop, "Well that's just great", he spoke sarcastically.

Nails slammed her fist down onto the table in aggravation, "Damn it! And the spell almost worked too!"

Tikal couldn't help but to feel guilty. She felt like if it weren't for her breaking the spell, she figured at least Rouge would've been back to her old self by now. She slightly bit her lip and turned to Nails with a guilty look on her face. She nervously placed her hand over Nails' tightly clenched fitst that was on the table. "I'm sorry, hunny. But that spell was hurting you. I panicked..."

While Grace calmly cradled the content baby hedgehog in her arms, she began to wonder what had caused the spell to go wrong in the first place. "I wonder why you two had such a hard time with the spell?"

"Because", Nails sighed and began to explain. "The kind of magic we're dealing with isn't your typical book levitation type of magic. We're dealing with pure black magic."

Tikal was already familiar with performing certain spells with Nails whenever the two had extra tim to spare. But she never even thought of what was average magic and what was apparently black magic. "Wha-what?"

Nails' eyes looked down to the table while she continued to explain. "Ever since I gave up using magic for evil, I completely shut out any dark arts I affiliated myself with. It's been so long, it just took a toll on me." She looked away from the table and turned back to Tikal who still appeared to have a slight confused look on her face. "But then again I'm glad it only affected me. With you getting involved and being such a pure spirit, it could've hurt you too."

Appex held out his hands out in confusion, "So...there's no other way to do this?"

Nails slowly shook her head, "I'm afraid not. Darkness himself is pure dark energy. If we wanna beat that bastard, it's literally darkness against darkness."

Espio made a small nod and placed a finger to his chin as he himself started to understand what all had to be done to bring Shadow and Rouge back to their old selves. "I see..."

Tikal turned back to Nails as she still seemed uncomfortable about performing the spell. "But we can't. What if something really bad happens?"

Nails knew what had to be done but it worried her that Tikal wasn't completely on board with what had to be accomplished. She had to try to convince her someway. "Tikal..." Before she could start trying to convince her, she and the rest of the group had heard the door opening to the shop. They all turned and saw a male blue hedgehog standing at the doorway.

Just by seeing him appear suddenly at Nails' shop, he immediately figured something was wrong. But as he observed his expression, he seemed calm so he figured it wasn't something urgent. However he did have a concerned and disturbed like expression on his face. "...Sonic?" He watched as the hedgehog began to casually walk over to him. "Glad to see you're all right. Sally informed us all you were okay earlier this morning." When he finally walked up to him, he could now clearly see that something was on his mind and he needed some kind of answers. But what would any of that have to do with him? "...What happened anyway?"

"Espio", Sonic finally spoke in a low and serious tone. "...Can we talk?"

Slightly taken by surprise from the fact that Sonic had wanted to talk to him in private, his assumptions about him were clear. He wanted information from him by why him of all people? He glanced back at the group with them giving him the same confused look in return. He then turned back to Sonic and slightly made a nod as he agreed to go talk to him in private. "...Um, sure?"

When Appex saw Espio leading Sonic towards the back of the shop and away from them, he turned to Ker with a puzzled look on his face. "What the hell was that all about?"

Ker was just as lost as the rest of them and shrugged his shoulders as a reply to him.

Espio led Sonic to the door of the office that was towards the back area of the store and stood in front of it. He spun around to turn to Sonic and rested his back against the door while he crossed his arms. "Okay what's up?"

Once he had gotten Espio's full attention he began to speak, "Espio, I didn't know who else to go to about this. But I have to ask..."

Espio he saw how nervous and disturbed he had seemed. He had hoped that Shadow didn't do anything to severely harm him during their fight from last night.

He bit his lip nervously before he spoke again, "Shadow...before all of this...he never...had a thing with Sally did he?"

Espio couldn't help but to pause and wonder what made him want to question such a thing. Just imagining the two having any kind of attraction towards each other was just laughable. "Wha-what? Shadow? And Sally? No way! They totally hated each other...until their mission to Kingdom of Acorn. When he got back, the only thing he mentioned was that he and her were on good terms."

When he reunited with Sally back in Kingdom of Acorn, the first thing he saw was her holding Shadow's bloody body in her arms and her face drenched with her own tears. Perhaps they did hate each other at first but how did it all get to this? It just didn't make any sense. "...Don't you think that's weird though? They hated each other before but now they're suddenly friends. I don't understand..."

He was acting weird for sure and it made him wonder if Shadow had said anything to him that had upset him. He had a bad feeling setting at the pit of his stomach. "Sonic, what's going on? What happened when you and Shadow Chaos Controlled together? Because you weren't acting like this before..."

He clenched his fists tightly and bit his lip before he bluntly spoke out, "He raped her."

Espio stood there in silence after hearing those words pass Sonic's lips. He didn't believe what he had just heard and thought that perhaps he just didn't hear him right. "...Wait...he what?"

Sonic's eyes nervously shifted away from his and wandered down to the floor as he heavily sighed. "It was the night he turned. Before any of us knew, I went out and left Sally alone at her house. I came back and she told me he had broke in and threatened her."

"Wait this isn't making any sense. Why didn't Sally mention this to The Council?"

He slightly shrugged his shoulders, "She was scared."

She was scared? That couldn't have been the case. "...That doesn't sound like her. Truce with Shadow or not, wouldn't she pull the 'I told you so' card to The Council? I mean...why is she hiding this?"

"I...I don't know. I can't get her to talk." He then saw him holding his hand up to him before taking a small step forward towards him.

He rose an eyebrow, "Wait a minute. You can't get her to talk?" He slightly shook his head and took a deep breath, "So what happened when you came back to her house You came in and saw her bruised and naked?"

He slightly shook his head, "No. She was fully clothed but a nervous wreck. She was fidgety and looked like she saw a ghost. She acted like she didn't even want me near her..."

"So did she ever say that Shadow came in and raped her?"

"Well...no but..."

Thank God. There was still hope that Shadow was still innocent of the entire rape accusation. "Okay so she didn't actually say she was. So...what? You've just been assuming all this?"

Well now it appeared that he completely didn't believe him and nothing had frustrated him even more. "What! You didn't see that fucking bedroom! Everything in there was ripped apart and she was so nervous! What else could he have done to her?"

He saw Sonic's nervous and quiet tone quickly escalate into a loud and enraged one. He didn't want him to get as loud for everyone else to hear their so called private conversation. "Sonic", he spoke in a low and calming voice. "I'm not trying to call bullshit or anything but come on. If that was the case, Sally would've presented it front and center with The Council in a heartbeat. Because trust me. No one hated Shadow more than she did." His eyes shifted from his, "Who knows. Sally may claim she's made peace with him but I don't know. She would probably still sell his soul in a second because she knows what he is." His eyes shifted back to Sonic's, "...They all do."

"So...you don't think he would do that?"

He slightly shrugged his shoulders and honestly couldn't tell him. He and the rest of The Chaotix faced Shadow's demonic counterpart before and it was known for him to be sexually sadistic. Due to Shadow's strong feelings towards Rouge, it caused him to go after her to torment her in the worst way imaginable. He even recalled him trying to go after Tonya because at one point before meeting Rouge, Shadow did bury a hidden lust for her. He had hoped that wasn't the case for Sally as well or else something indeed did happen while he and her were in Acorn Kingdom together. "...Darkness didn't say anything about it did he?"

He slowly shook his head, "No...I suppose that would explain why he acted like he didn't know what I was talking about..."

After thinking the scenario over, Espio couldn't help but to have the horrid feeling that something did happen between Shadow and Sally. But he didn't want to alarm Sonic in any way especially with him already coming to him seeking answers to a possible history between the two. He slightly shook his head and let out a small sigh of relief, "You see? And besides I really can't see why Darkness would have a reason to go after her anyway other than to just terrify her and get some point across with The Council."

He made a small nod and thought that if Espio didn't seem all that concerned with it then he shouldn't be either. He let out a heavy sigh, "You're probably right. Maybe...maybe I'm just overthinking everything."

"I don't know, dude. I think this whole Darkness thing with Shadow is just rattling your nerves. Just try to calmly talk to her. I'm sure she was just upset when he turned like the rest of us were."

He slightly shrugged his shoulders, "Yeah I suppose. Anyway thanks for touching base with me. I'm sorry I came here like this and just kinda overreacted with all this shit."

He made a small yet comforting smile towards him. "Hey it's cool. I understand. If you need someone to talk to, I'm always up for listening."

He made a small warm smile towards him, "Thanks, Espio." He had then used his thumb to point back towards the door of the shop. "But anyway I should get going. The team needs me."

He made a nod and watched as Sonic turned away from him and walked towards the door and out of the stop.

As soon as he left, Tonya turned to Espio who had walked from the back within the shop. She observed the somewhat worried and deep in thought look on his face. She just knew whatever he and Sonic talked about had to be a pretty intense topic. "What was that about?"

Espio noticed Tonya and the rest of the group looking at him as they were all curious about what he and Sonic talked about. He couldn't tell them that Sonic had accused Shadow of being a rapist especially without any proof. And he couldn't risk making Shadow more of a monster than he already was. At least not yet anyway. He played it off by shrugging his shoulders and slightly shaking his head. "Nothing." When he heard the door open again, he turned and saw a male black jackal walk through the door. "...Luke?"

With a serious expression on his face, Luke stormed through the shop and walked over to him. "Espio", he spoke in a slight panicked tone. "I spoke to Sarah this morning..."

"Yeah", Espio replied in a saddened tone. "We all did..."

Just by his tone, it was apparent that Espio was well aware of Shadow and Rouge becoming genuine criminals to The Council. He slowly shook his head, "I can't believe The Council's giving up on them so easily. We gotta do something. If we don't, Shadow and Rouge are both good as dead."

Espio placed his hand on the side of his head in frustration as he didn't know what exactly to do. "I know. We're running out of time."

"Time..."

Everyone was then startled when they heard a sudden male voice speaking out from above them. They all looked around until they saw a male white bat sitting on the railing of the staircase on the second floor balcony above them.

With the side of his face resting on his hand, the white bat's yellow eyes fell down upon the group who was shocked to see his appearance. He flashed his fangs within his small yet cunning smirk. "...Is an interesting choice of words..."

 **In The Next Chapter...**

 **Sky: I have some interesting information you all might want to hear...**

 **Midnight:...Why is he here anyway?**

 **Grace: What do you want? Get away from Spike!**

 **Shadow: How annoying...**

 **Espio: This ends now! I want him back! I want my friend back!**


	19. Chapter 19

**CHAPTER 19**

The entire magic shop was silent while everyone's eyes fell upon the male white bat who sat on the railing of the stairs on the second floor above them.

"Sky!" Espio coldly glared at the male bat who sat there and looked back down at him and the rest of the group with a calm expression on his face. He had wondered how he knew about Nails' magic shop and how he arrived there. Let alone how he managed to sneak past everyone when he entered the shop. And he wondered how long was he actually in the shop before he made himself noticeable.

Without taking her angry eyes away from him, Nails quickly stood from her chair. "Brother!"

"Christ does everyone know about this magic shop or what?" Appex spoke in an annoyed tone while he was prepared for Sky to strike out towards him and the rest of the group at any moment.

Espio made sure to keep his hand near the gun that was in the holster of his belt. "I don't know how you got in here but I'm about to show you your way back out!"

Sky casually rose an eyebrow as he observed the group's immediate hostile outburst towards him. "Calm down will you? I'm not here to fight."

Due to Sky's previous encounters and violent intentions, Tikal immediately didn't believe his words. "Yeah right! You just wanna sink your fangs into our necks!" She turned back to the rest of the group, "Anyone have any stakes?"

With a slight sigh, Nails placed her hand on Tikal's shoulder so she could turn to her. "Uh, hunny? You do know he's not kind of vampire bat right?"

Tikal had then realized that she was right. Sky was a vampire bat and he did drink blood but when it came to him as far as acting like an actual vampire, those kind of rules didn't apply to him. He was just a simple and ordinary mobian just as the rest of them. He just preferred to drink blood more than anything else. "Oh...right."

It didn't surprise him how hostile the group had gotten towards him. After all, the last time they all had met, they weren't exactly at the best of terms. "I said chill out. I'm not out for blood or anything. Geez!"

"Then what do you want?" Espio asked in an impatient tone.

He had then casually began to swing his leg back and forth slightly while it hung off of the railing he had sat on. "I just swung by to give you all a heads up."

Charmy arched an eyebrow in confusion, "...Heads up?"

"Heads up...a warning...whatever you would like to call it', he spoke.

Espio was starting to think that maybe he wasn't there to fight after all. If so, he would've already started to attack them all ready. He slightly lowered his guard as he began to ask what he had meant. "...What warning?"

He started to explain, "Tonight at The Tech City Power Plant. Shadow's planning to shut all power off within the city. And then he will have an army of Almas run wild throughout the whole city."

A small yet panicked gasp had escaped from Tonya.

Ker couldn't quite understand the reasoning why Shadow would go and do such a random thing. "But why?"

For Charmy it wasn't hard to start putting pieces of the plan together. "To shut off all access to any kind of power", he explained. "It's gonna catch everyone off guard. The TCPD, The Council, G.U.N..."

Sky made a nod, "Exactly and with Shadow being the prince of darkness and all. He like Dark can control Almas with just a snap of the fingers."

"A blackout?" Luke murmured under his breath. He figured with something like that happening within the city, it would be easy for anyone to cause all sorts of chaos. He spun around to turn to Espio, "We have to stop this from happening."

Espio believed The Dark Alliance were planning this but he couldn't understand why Sky was telling them all of this information especially when he was supposedly working with them. "...Why are you telling us all this?"

Sky crossed his arms and sighed heavily, "As much fun as it seems to have my sister running around with the cool kids, I'm not really about it. Rouge is under a mind control you see..."

Tonya placed a finger under her chin and thought about how Rouge was acting like she was a demon. Looking back at it, she was acting rather cold and apathetic. "Now that I think about it, she really hasn't been acting like herself...well...more like herself..."

Sky made a small nod, "Yeah that brat Devil charmed her when he turned her."

"Devil?" Tikal repeated the name blankly.

"He's Angel's older brother and another strong demon who sides with The Dark Alliance", Sky had answered.

It didn't take much for Appex to realize that Devil had to be Angel's sibling. After all, their names did go together quite well. He slightly rubbed his chin, "Hmm...makes sense."

Sky continued, "With her being like that, she has no mind of her own and she's The Dark Alliance's literal bitch."

"So I need to cast a spell to cancel the mind control as well as finding a way to neutralize her demonic powers." Nails already had something in mind to bring Rouge out of the mind control it had seemed.

Sky once again made a nod. "Yes but I'm letting you guys know this won't be easy for you."

"Trust us", Midnight spoke. "We're aware of that." They were already struggling with trying to fight both Shadow and Rouge without severely hurting them or killing them for that matter. They just needed to think of just the right strategy.

The group stepped back when they caught sight of Sky using his wings to help him glide down to the first floor where they all were. Once they saw him turn to Grace, they all quickly stood in fighting stances once again.

Grace held Spike close to her while she held him in her arms and gave Sky a cautious look while he took a step towards her. "Wha-what do you want?"

Charmy immediately knew that Sky was gonna hurt Grace and go after Spike. "Get away from her!" He shouted angrily towards him.

Sky's yellow eyes fell upon the baby black hedgehog who used his green eyes to lock onto his. While Sky stared into the child's eyes, a small yet warm smile formed on his lips. "...He looks a lot like his father."

Grace cautiously continued to hold Spike close to her as she didn't know what Sky had planned to do next.

The small smile he had on his lips had then faded when he shifted his eyes away from the baby. "I just hope he doesn't grow up to be like him..." He had then turned away from Grace who held Spike and used his wings to glide his way over to the door of the shop.

Espio took a step forward and spoke out to him before he could leave the shop. "Wait a minute, Sky. Why are you helping us?"

The white bat paused and spoke while not turning back to Espio and the group. "Hey you think it's fun being the only mortal to be surrounded by a bunch of flesheaters? No thanks!" Before he walked out of the door, he slightly turned his head back to the group with a small smirk on his lips, "Besides a world run by demons? Pretty bleak if you ask me."

When Sky finally walked out of the door and left the shop, Appex pointed towards the door in anger and looked back towards Espio. "So we're just gonna stand here and let the bastard walk out of here?"

With hearing all of the new information that Sky just spoke about, dealing with him didn't seem like a huge priority to Espio. "We've got other things to worry about", he spoke while he placed his hands on his hips. "New information has come to light. It's about to become a demon apocalypse if we don't do something tonight."

While stepping over to him, Luke seemed that he had the look of determination. "And I'll do everything I can to help."

Despite how the other leaders and team members felt about wanting to kill Shadow, it gave Espio hope that at least someone on The Council still saw the goodness within Shadow. He made a nod and formed a small smile towards him, "It's good we can count on you, Luke."

"So", Appex began. "Are we gonna tell The Council about this?"

Tonya crossed her arms angrily at the thought of even mentioning the new information to Sarah and the rest of The Council. "Hell no. Those bastards want to kill Shadow and Rouge dead now!"

"Yeah", Espio agreed. "We're on our own with this." He turned to face the group with a serious expression. "But just know this. What we're about to do could get us in some deep shit. If Sarah finds out we're hiding what we know from her..."

"Screw that! Shadow and Rouge needs us!" Charmy personally didn't care what the consequences were. All he wanted was to have Shadow and Rouge back on their side again.

Ker had felt the same way Charmy had felt and wanted to do whatever they had to save Shadow and Rouge. "That's right. We're in this together."

Even with his warning, it was good to know that everyone on the team was on board with carrying out their upcoming mission. He turned to Luke and saw him giving him an assuring nod that he was on their side.

Nails turned to Tikal, "Tikal, I know we can succeed with this spell but I'm gonna need you with me and at a hundred percent." She gently took her hand and held it, "You think you can do this?"

She paused for a moment and thought if she could actually handle performing the spell especially if it appeared that it would cause some kind of consequences on their end. She wanted to believe that she would be able to power through it. She looked into her eyes with a determined expression and slightly gripped onto her hand tighter. "You can count on me, Nails."

After hearing Tikal's reply to Nails, Espio turned to the two of them, "We're counting on you guys and Shadow and Rouge too."

Luke took his clenched fist and punched it into the palm of his hand as he was ready to hear if Espio had some kind of plan for them. "Okay Espio, now that everything's all settled. What's the game plan?

Espio turned to the eager group and took a small deep breath before he was ready to reveal what he had in mind to prepare for that night. "Okay. This is what we'll do..."

Later on that night, Scourge carelessly walked though the quiet and dark open area that was outside within The Tech City Power Plant. His eyes scanned around the area around them. With only a few lights lighting up the wide open field within the power plant, it was kind of hard to see anything. All what he saw was multiple electric posts, small buildings that were there for only one or two offices, and the large sign that was on top of the main tall office building that read 'Tech City Power Plant.' He slightly scuffed his feet through the dry and dusty ground and heavily sighed while he slowly followed behind Shadow and Rouge who were walking in front of him. He turned to Fiona who had walked beside him and murmured over to her. "What the hell? I can't believe we're stuck with them for this shit."

Fiona lazily shifted her eyes over to him and replied back to him in a low voice. "Hey Lord Dark ordered us to assist them. We have to do as he asked." She recalled Dark ordering her and Scourge to assist Shadow and Rouge in case anything had went wrong during their mission.

He made a look as if he was annoyed with the task they were both given, "Whatever at least we stopped and had dinner on the way in." He remembered when they first arrived at the power plant, they were confronted by a few of the security guards. When the guards attempted to stop them, they ended up not standing a chance against them and were easily killed and their bodies dealt with.

While Rouge walked beside Shadow, she leaned close to him to lowly whisper to him while having her hand gently resting on his arm. "So since our attempt to turn Spike failed, what are we going to do now?"

Shadow turned to her and lowly replied back to her, "Our attempt wasn't a failure. Nearly just a setback. After when we take over this useless city and dispose of The Council and The Chaotix, I promise we will become a family again."

A small yet satisfied smile formed on her lips until she saw Shadow gently removing her hand from his arm.

"Hold that thought, hun." He paused for a moment and listened as he heard Scourge muttering a few words to Fiona. "Hey, snot?"

Scourge took his eyes away from Fiona and flashed his eyes over to the black and red hedgehog that was still walking in front of him in annoyance.

Without turning to him, he spoke out to him again. "You know I can hear everything you're saying right?"

Annoyed by his remark, he crossed his arms and arched an eyebrow towards him, "You honestly think I give a shit if you hear me insult you?" He was determined not to look threatened by him. He didn't care if he was possibly stronger than him, he wasn't going to appear weak to no one.

Shadow slightly turned his head to him with a small and cunning smile on his face. "My, my you're quite bold. I can see why Lord Dark sired you. Nothing like having live entertainment for The Nest."

It was like he was begging him to fight him and with how he was going, he would've gladly done so to get him to stop insulting him. "What!"

His cunning smile slightly widened while he shrugged his shoulders. "I mean what else are you good for?"

"Shut your mouth you son of a bitch!"

Fiona saw Scourge's anger sky rocket and quickly stepped in between the two before a fight had began. "Hey! Cool it! We're on a mission here remember!" She shouted while continuing to stand in between them.

A small and deep laugh had escaped Shadow while his eyes locked with Scourge's. "Heh how cute. Having your girlfriend step in so I don't accidentally kill you."

"Kill me? You wish you could, stripes!" Scourge shouted angrily.

While the two were arguing with Fiona standing in between them, Rouge had stood firmly in one spot and pointed up at a large red lever that was secured by a glass door above where she was standing. "There" she spoke. "That's the main power switch."

Shadow directed his attention away from Scourge and turned to eye the red lever that was above them. The power box was in a special glass casing that was attached to a tall electric post. "There it is. Good job, babe. You found it."

They all watched as Shadow disappeared within a flash of white light and then reappeared in front of the glass case that was guarding the switch.

Shadow observed other buttons and switches that were also on the control pad along with the main lever. He began to reach his hand out towards the lever with a wide and evil smile on his face, "And let there be darkness..." he deeply growled. Before he could touch the lever, a male voice had suddenly shouted out.

"Hold it right there!"

His body froze after hearing the sudden voice. He took his hand away from the lever and turned to look below him only to see Espio, Luke, Tonya, Ker, and Charmy confronting Scourge, Fiona, and Rouge. His red eyes spotted the male purple chameleon who had his eyes fixed upon him as well. "Espio..." he growled lowly.

With his fists clenched, Espio angrily looked up at the hedgehog, "This ends now, Darkness! We want him back! We want our friend back!"

 **In The Next Chapter...**

 **Espio: The things you've done...the things you've said...Shadow would never do any of that!**

 **Shadow: If you think you can stop me, then you have another thing coming!**

 **Scourge: I can't do this anymore...**

 **Luke: Can we really do this?**

 **Espio: We can't give up!**

 **Shadow: I won't hold back this time...**


	20. Chapter 20

**CHAPTER 20**

There was a moment of silence as Shadow's eyes locked onto the purple chameleon who had stood below him while they both exchanged cold looks towards each other. A sudden deep and hysteric laugh had escaped the dark hedgehog. "You want your friend back? How amusing..."

It only made Espio's blood boil even more as he heard his sudden laughter. "The things you've done...the things you said...Shadow would never do any of that!"

"Heh, right", he spoke with a slight smirk before jumping back down to the ground to confront him and the rest of the group. He turned to Espio and raised his hand out towards him. "I don't know how you found us here..."

Espio's eyes widened when he saw a green aura glowing around the hand he had held up towards him.

"But I won't stand by and allow you to interfere with our plans."

Espio spun around to the rest of the group, "Watch it!" Before the blast of Chaos energy could hit them, they all had quickly jumped out of the way making the blast miss them and fire at the ground instead. When the dust from the ground had seeped through the air, Espio turned back to the group when he realized that the fight between them all was beginning to take place. "Okay guys, remember the plan. Despite Scourge and Fiona being here too, getting to Shadow is our main priority. If we can stop him, we can stop Rouge."

"Right", Luke agreed. "Let's do it!" He shouted before he and the rest of them charged towards the group of powerful demons.

Shadow saw the group of detectives coming at them with their weapons drawn in their hands. He turned to Scourge and Fiona who seemed prepared to fight back. He snapped his fingers and pointed over at the group of detectives that were heading in their direction. "Scourge. Fiona. You're on." When he saw Fiona taking out two machine guns and running past him to charge towards the group, Scourge ran up and stood next to Shadow while giving him an angered look.

"Just so you know we're not gonna risk our ass' for the sake of you", he growled under his breath.

While taking a step over to him to lean in closer to him, he angrily growled back at him. "You were ordered to assist. So go fucking assist!"

With him flashing his eyes away from his, he ran behind Fiona to help her fight off of the group of detectives.

With his menacing red eyes glaring at the green hedgehog taking out a double barreled magnum from his leg holster, he gritted his fangs. 'Just he wait. I'll make sure he's one of the first to die when I rule this pathetic world...'

When Tonya saw Fiona firing her guns towards her, she took out her tessens and used the blades to easily deflect the bullets away.

When Fiona saw Tonya still coming towards her, she watched as she leapt into mid air and held out her tessens at her. She quickly leapt out of the way before she could swing the bladed tessens at her.

When Tonya landed onto the ground, she looked and saw Shadow swiftly making his way up towards the roof of the tall main office building within the plant. She turned to Luke and Espio, "Luke! Espio!"

Espio turned and saw Shadow heading up towards the rooftop of the large building. "We're on it!" He turned to Luke who stood next to him. "Let's go!" Before they could both go after Shadow, Rouge had stepped in front of them with her fists held out and clenched tightly. He and Luke both knew that it was going to be difficult to get to Shadow if Rouge kept getting in the way. When they saw her beginning to step towards them, she was suddenly sent flying away from them and was knocked into both Scourge and Fiona. They both turned and saw standing across from them while still holding out his hand at Rouge from where he had shot her with his energy blast.

"Go now!"

When they realized that Ker and the rest of them were going to distract Rouge, Scourge, and Fiona, Espio and Luke found it much more easier to take care of Shadow. They both gave Ker a nod before they proceeded to go after Shadow.

When Shadow made it to the top of the roof of the building, he walked around the large roof while swearing under her breath. "Damn Espio and the rest of the detectives. If they think they can stop me then they have another thing coming..." His words trailed off when he heard a familiar woman voice being heard near him.

"Hello, Darkness", the woman voice spoke in a low yet angry tone.

He looked around until he spotted a black bat woman who slowly appeared behind the door that led down into the building. "...Nails? What are you doing here, witch?" He had then saw her hold up her hand towards him and take his body to fling him back onto the ground at a further distance away from her. He sat up from the ground and gave her a cold glare, "You! You think you can stop me you fucking..."

She had then took her hand and waved it towards the side causing his body to move along with it. "You're not the only one with gifted powers, demon! I am much stronger than I look!"

While kneeling to the ground, he slowly began to raise his hand towards her, "You bitch!" His hand was suddenly placed and held down to the ground by an unseen force. He couldn't move any of his hands as they were both being held down to the ground. "What? What the hell kind of magic is this?" He had then heard another woman's voice that was near.

"Don't try to move. It's useless."

He looked and saw an orange woman echidna standing next to Nails with one hand held up towards him and holding a strange dark brown book in her hand. "Tikal!" He tried to move his body but had no luck in doing so. "Damn it! I can't move!"

While not taking her sights off of Shadow, Nails spoke out to Tikal. "Tikal, the book."

When she realized that Nails seemed to have control of the situation, she lowered her hand and opened the book to start flipping through the pages. While she was looking through the pages, Espio and Luke had finally arrived onto the the roof along with them.

Espio saw that Nails was using some kind of strange magic to keep Shadow from standing from the ground. "Nails!"

Nails turned to Espio with an assured look on her face, "Don't worry. We got him."

Shadow gritted his fangs and gripped his fingertips into the ground while he glared towards Nails. "You ain't got shit", he growled as his red eyes began to glow.

Tikal watched as Nails' body was suddenly knocked back onto the ground by an unseen force. "Nails!"

Espio knew that once Nails was down, her hold on him was no more. His heart raced as he saw him slowly standing back off of the ground. "Shit! It's that telekinesis!"

Shadow stood there with his fists tightly clenched with them having a glowing green aura around them. "You'll have to do better than that if you wanna beat me!"

Luke had then pulled out his silver hand cannon from the black holster around his leg and pointed the barrel of it towards Shadow, "Yeah I don't think so."

When Espio saw Luke pointing his gun towards Shadow, his mind instantly thought back to what Bunnie had mentioned to him earlier that morning in the video message Sarah had sent him. He looked back at Shadow's glowing red eyes and then back at Luke. "Luke, wait!" As soon as he tried to convince him to hold his fire, he had already shot a powerful bullet in Shadow's direction.

When Shadow saw the bullet coming towards him, an evil smirk formed on his lips as he stopped the bullet in front of his face before it actually hit him.

Espio suddenly saw the bullet coming back in their direction at an amazing speed. With his hands being quick, he took out his large shuriken and used the blade of it as a shield to block the powerful bullet. The bullet was so strong, it was enough to cause a searing dent into the metal blade of his shuriken.

Luke found it hard to swallow as he witnessed Espio saving them both from the powerful bullet. "Holy shit...I forgot he could do that."

Espio didn't take his eyes away from the dark hedgehog who stood there giving them both menacing looks. "Just be careful."

After Tikal had helped her off of the ground, she gave Nails a worried look. "Are you okay?" She had watched her make a slow nod towards her as a reply to her question. "What are we gonna do? At this point, he's practically untouchable."

Before Nails could think of a way to take down Shadow, she and everyone else had then saw a black blur fly past them and make its way up into the night sky. They all turned and saw Rouge using her wings to stay airborne in the sky. Her eyes widened when she saw her holding and pointing a machine gun towards them. "Shit!"

When Rouge began to fire the gun towards them, Espio quickly dodged every bullet that he could and threw a small shuriken towards her hand.

With the forceful throw of the shuriken, it was enough to knock the gun right out of her hands and made her drop it

When Luke saw her dropping the gun, he quickly caught it and used it to fire it at her.

With her quick and swift movements, she easily dodged all of the bullets and came down towards Luke and used her foot to kick him hard in the chest and knocked him down to the ground.

When Espio saw her take down Luke, he ran over to her and came at her with his fists swinging at her. She had took both his fists to hold them back and used her knee to strike him in the lower stomach. Before she could come at him with another hit, Luke had took his arm and grabbed it around her neck from behind. When she was slightly pulled away from Espio, she used her elbow and struck him hard in the chest knocking him away from her.

While Rouge fought with Espio and Luke, Shadow spotted Nails and Tikal flipping through the pages of the book until they finally found the page they were looking for. He knew what they were trying to do and he was determined to put a stop to it. He began to step towards them with his hands still glowing green. "I don't think so", he growled lowly.

When Luke ran back up to Rouge again, she used her leg and kicked him back away from her causing him to fall to the ground. She then saw Espio coming at her and grabbed him by his arm and held it behind his back when she used her foot to hold his body down onto the ground.

While Espio was on the ground trying to fight Rouge off of him, he looked up and saw Shadow approaching Nails and Tikal. He couldn't sit there and watch Shadow kill them both. He then angrily looked back to Rouge who still had him held down onto the ground. "Sorry Rouge, but you're being super fucking annoying right now!" He had then used his tail to wrap around Rouge's leg to to pull her away from his body. When he felt her grip loosen on him, he used his foot and kicked her hard and away from him enough to knock her back off of the roof. As soon as she wasn't in sight anymore, he quickly started to make his way towards Shadow. "No!"

Tikal bit her lip in worry as she watched Shadow step closer and closer to them. She turned to Nails with a frightened look, "Nails!"

Nails' eyes shifted over to see Espio making his way back over them. She turned back to Tikal and saw how afraid she was. She took her by her hand and held it tightly in her grip. "It's okay. Trust me. We have to do this spell. It's the only way."

Despite the situation, she knew she was right. In order to save themselves and everyone, they had to perform the spell. With a small nod, she gripped onto her hand tightly, "Right!" She shut her eyes and began to chant the spell along with Nails.

Shadow saw the two beginning to chant the spell and raised his hand up towards them. "I don't fucking think so..." Before he could blast his Chaos energy at the two, he was struck by something sharp that sunk into his arm. He let out a low groan and winced from the sharp blade of the small shuriken that was in his arm. He jerked out the shuriken and turned to Espio and Luke who were running towards him.

While Luke ran beside him, Espio turned to look over to him. "We gotta get him down!"

Desperate for any ideas on how to weaken Shadow, Luke glanced around the rooftop until his eyes caught sight of the bright and well lit up sign that read 'Power Plant.' That idea he was seeking had suddenly entered his mind. He looked back over to Espio, "I got an idea."

When Espio saw Luke directing his attention up at the sign, it didn't take him long to start putting his idea into place. He made a nod towards him to let him know that he knew exactly what he was planning. He reached down and took out a shuriken from his belt holster, "Got it."

Before Shadow could attack Nails and Tikal, he spotted something small flying in his direction at the corner of his eye. He figured it was another one of Espio's shurikens. He stepped to the side causing the shuriken to miss him. He then looked up and saw Espio jumping up into mid air with the point of a kunai knife being directed towards him.

"With this blade, I damn your soul into the firey pits of Hell!" He shouted before stabbing the kunai deep into his arm that he used to allow the weapon to stab him. He knew it wasn't going to be enough to kill him but it caused enough damage to him to catch him off guard. He gripped the kunai tighter as he continued to stab the blade deeper into his arm, "Amen, motherfucker!"

With loud groaning escaping him, he watched as more and more of his blood seeped from his arm from where Espio had stabbed him. "You bastard!" Before he could shove Espio away from him, Luke had quickly ran up beside him and stabbed a combat knife into the side of his stomach. Another loud groan had escaped him, "I'll kill you both!" He then took his hands that had the green aura of Chaos energy surrounding them and gripped them around Espio and Luke's wrists. It was only a matter of time until he heard their groans of pain from the searing burns of his attack.

Despite his wrist being burned, Espio tried to fight back the pain and saw that Luke was trying to do the same. However he didn't know how much longer they both could stand it. "Come on, Luke!"

With the remaining little bit of strength they both had, they both pushed Shadow's back until his back had slammed against the lit up sign.

Tikal's mouth dropped as she saw Espio and Luke holding Shadow back into the electric sign. Lights flashed and sparks flew as she watched Shadow's body getting electrocute. "Wha-what are they doing? They'll kill him!"

"No! It's a distraction!" Nails turned to Tikal and gripped her hand tighter. "Come on! We gotta finish the spell!"

Once Tikal quickly figured out what Luke and Espio were doing, she shut her eyes and continued to chant the spell along with Nails. Just as they were chanting the last few words, Espio and Luke were blown back from the sudden explosion of sparks from the electricity. When Luke and Espio fell back to the ground, she and Nails had stepped back and shielded their eyes from the blinding flashes from the sparks and flashing lights. After when they didn't hear anymore of the electricity, they turned and saw that the sign was no longer lit up. The rooftop they all stood on was practically dark if it weren't for the bright white moon that had came out from the clouds in the night sky.

Nails turned and saw Shadow's body laying face down onto the ground without any sign of him moving. "...Shadow?"

Tikal stared at Shadow's unconscious body nervously and bit her lip. "Did...did it work?"

Luke and Espio slowly stood from the ground and slowly walked over to Shadow's body with caution. He and Espio kneeled down next to Shadow's body with their hands hovering over their weapons. "...He isn't dead..." Luke's eyes shifted over to Espio in worry, "...Is he?" He and Espio were then startled when they heard low groaning coming from the hedgehog. They both quickly jumped back and prepared themselves if the spell had failed. They watched as Shadow slowly sat up from the ground and looked up at them with a relieved yet saddened expression look on his face.

"...Luke? Espio?" He called out in a low and weak tone.

Once he heard the low yet sincere tone of his voice, Espio just knew that the hedgehog they all once knew was back once again. With a heavy sigh of relief and a wide smile on his face, he happily approached the hedgehog with Luke by his side. "Shadow, you're back!"

Luke made a heavy sigh in relief and placed a hand to the side of his head. "Thank God." He also couldn't be more happy to see the Shadow they all knew once again.

When Tikal saw the relieved looks from Espio and Luke, she figured that Shadow was indeed alive and back to his old self. She turned to Nails with a wide and warm smile. "Nails, it worked!"

A relieved and heavy sigh escaped Nails as she couldn't have been happier that they both succeed in bringing Shadow back. Now all there was, was Rouge. "Well that's one out of two."

While Nails and Tikal were making their way towards them, Espio and Luke had helped Shadow stand to his feet.

Espio knew what he and Luke did had taken a toll on him and had hoped that they didn't severely hurt him. "Are you okay?"

While Shadow weakly stood to his feet, he held the side of his head and shifted his eyes away from them in guilt it seemed. "I'd feel better if I wasn't fooled so easily. I can't believe that happened...again..."

Luke slowly shook his head and placed his hand gently on his shoulder, "Hey they used Rouge to get to you and you didn't know it was a trap." Luke couldn't begin to imagine what Shadow was feeling at the moment. He saw that he was happy that his old self was restored but more so his expression was full of sadness.

Once Luke reminded him of how his demonic counterpart came to be, a sudden rage had filled him. He was beyond furious of how The Dark Alliance captured Rouge and turned her just so they could restore Darkness. He slightly shook his head and clenched his fists tightly, "Rouge..."

Tikal saw how upset he looked and wanted to reassure him that if they could restore him back to his old self, they could do the same for Rouge. "Don't worry, Shadow", Tikal spoke as she presented the book to him, "We can still save her."

He paused for a moment as he briefly examined the dark brown book Tikal had held. "...You can neutralize her demon powers?"

Nails made a small nod as a reply as she reassured that they could.

While letting out a slight sigh, he turned away from them. "Great..."

Espio arched an eyebrow when he could've sworn he heard a sarcastic and saddened tone coming from Shadow. This definitely confused him. Wouldn't he be happy to hear the news? He didn't understand why he seemed upset by it. He then saw him turning back to him and rest of the group.

"You're aware she's under mind control as well?"

Nails found herself already two steps ahead. Now that she knew she could neutralize both their powers, she was confident about everything else she had to do. "Don't worry we're already on it. We just gotta weaken her enough to perform the spells. Like we did for you."

"Sounds good", he spoke as he started to step away from them. "I'm going to stop her." He had then stopped in his tracks when Espio called out to him.

"Wa-wait a minute, Shad!" He watched as Shadow slowly spun back around to face him. "Are you sure you're up for this? I mean last time..." He lightly bit his lip as he recalled what had happened the last time Shadow had confronted Rouge while she was a demon. He had apparently went easy on her in battle so he wouldn't harm her. He feared he would still have that same mentality and everything would start all over again.

Shadow knew exactly what was going on in Espio's mind and wanted to assure him that this time was definitely going to be different. "I know. I knew the woman I faced before was no longer my wife, but I still fell weak because I didn't want to hurt her. But now I know I have to do everything I must to save her. I won't hold back this time."

Even after hearing what Shadow had planned, Espio was still kind of on edge about him wanting to stop Rouge and alone but he wanted to have faith in him. He and everyone else were startled when Rouge had used her wings to fly back onto the rooftop and confront the group. Judging by her appearance, she seemed already pretty weak from fighting with the rest of the group down below that were trying to distract her.

Once Nails and Tikal saw her appear back onto the rooftop, they stepped back and opened the book back up to work on both spells.

As Rouge stood there, she locked her eyes with Shadow. Just by looking into his eyes, she could tell something was completely different about him. "...Darkness?" His pupils were completely back to normal and she couldn't feel the same energy she felt around him before. She slightly tilted her head and had a somewhat confused look on her face. "Your demonic energy...it's weak..."

Just hearing her say his demonic counterpart's name had made his stomach turned. When he heard that name, flashbacks of what happened during had flooded his mind within seconds. With both his fists clenched, he coldly looked towards her, "My name is Shadow."

When she heard him referring himself as that, she paused and made a small evil smirk when she figured out what had happened. "...So you're back to your pathetic half mortal self huh?" She placed her hands on her hips, "Well now what are you going to do? Stop me?"

He remained silent for a moment before he made a small and firm nod, "...Yeah. I am."

An amused laugh had escaped from her while she took her hands away from her hips, "Really? Because that worked so well the last time right?"

Espio's heart raced when she saw him walking over to him and lean her body onto his. He allowed her to already make such close contact with him and it immediately panicked him from the inside. "Shadow!"

"Shit..." Luke muttered in a low tone. He watched as she leaned her body close to his and kept his hand close to his gun that was in the holster around his leg. "Don't be stupid, Shadow..."

With an amused look on her face, she took her hand and placed it onto his chest. She began to lightly stroke her hand across his chest, "Don't kid yourself, sweetie. You wouldn't hurt your own wife would you?" Her body slightly jolted when he had suddenly grabbed her wrist tightly. As he held her wrist tighter and tighter, she couldn't help but to wince.

He jerked her wrist and pulled her body closer to hers. His angry eyes locked into hers while his grip never loosened from her wrist. "You are not my wife."

As she looked at him, she could tell something was different about him from the last time the two had fought. His emotions towards her were cold and he appeared to have more determination. She was suddenly struck in her lower stomach with a powerful kick by him that was hard enough to knock her away from him and caused her body to fall through the glass window of the roof.

Shadow watched as her body fell through the glass and saw her body fall on top of a large wooden desk within the large and dark room of the building. He wasted no time and jumped through the already broken ceiling with his glowing yellow hand held out towards her. "Chaos Spear!"

Her eyes widened when she saw him coming towards her with his attack. She quickly sat up from the desk she had laid on and rolled over onto the floor causing his attack to strike the already broken desk. As papers and wood from the broken desk scattered in the air, she turned to him with a battle ready look. She gritted her fangs angrily, "Well look who's actually trying to hurt me."

While the yellow aura around his hands had turned into a green color, he never took his angry eyes away from her. "Hurt you? I'll fucking kill you if I have to."

"Would love to see you try, sweetie", she growled before she stood from the floor and came at him with both her fists clenched.

When he dodged the first few swings of her fists, he grabbed her wrist and used the Chaos energy from his hands to burn her wrist. He tried his hardest to ignore her groans from the burning and forcefully threw her body into the concrete wall.

When Rouge's body slammed against the wall, she turned and saw him coming towards him with his glowing green hand coming towards her once again. She quickly ducked down and dodged his attack.

When she had dodged his attack, his attack was so strong, it was enough to break through the concrete wall of the room. When he turned to her, he was struck with a large and heavy desk that she had easily picked up. While he laid on the floor, he was quickly reminded that this wasn't a typical fight with her. She had incredible super strength as well. When he saw her coming towards him again, he stood from the floor and held back her fists as he prevented her from hitting him. As he continued to hold her back, he didn't know how much longer he could keep it up. He then directed her back towards the window behind them and used his foot to kick her hard away from him knocking her body out of the six story window.

Outside of the building, Tonya, Ker, and Charmy panted in exhaustion from their fight with Fiona and Scourge who stood across from them looking just as drained as they were. They were all startled when they heard glass breaking and pieces of glass falling from above them. They looked and saw Rouge's body falling from the sky with Shadow following after her.

While Rouge was falling in mid air, Shadow grabbed her by her arm and slung her body down onto the pavement on the ground.

Scourge jumped back and watched as Rouge's body slammed into the ground in front of them. His mouth dropped when he saw Rouge quickly getting back up and dodging Shadow's next attack against her. "Wha? What the hell?"

Tonya stood there confused at what was going on as well. "He's fighting her?"

Ker paused for a moment and stared at Shadow as if he was trying to locate something from him. A calming look had then formed on his face, "...I don't feel a strong demonic energy from Shadow anymore."

After hearing that, Charmy just knew that Nails and Tikal had succeed with their spell. A wide and relieved smile formed on his face, "They did it!"

While the rest of them were focused on Shadow and Rouge's fight, Scourge turned to Fiona and pointed behind her. "Let's get the fuck out of here!"

Before Fiona could do or say anything, he had grabbed her by her arm and pulled away from the group while they were all distracted. Scourge had pulled her away until they were both standing outside of the power plant. She angrily snatched her arm out of his grip. "Scourge! What the hell are you doing?"

He pointed back towards the inside of the power plant. "Do you not see what's going on? I can't feel him anymore! Darkness...he's fucking gone, Fi!"

She found herself so distracted from the sudden fight, she didn't even notice. "...What?"

He heavily sighed before he began to explain, "The Chaotix must've found a way to bring him back to his old stupid mortal self. So now he's beating the living daylights out of Rouge. Probably gonna do the same with her too."

She gasped in both shock and interest from the fact that The Chaotix actually found a way to bring Shadow back his old self. "They actually did it?" She then bit her lip nervously, "This isn't good. We have to report back to Lord Dark and..."

"No!"

What was going on? Was Scourge this upset about what had happened? To Darkness? The mission? "...What?"

He shifted his eyes down to the ground and slowly shook his head, "I-I don't want to do this anymore, Fi."

She then felt his hands holding hers. "...Scourge?"

His eyes continued to look down to the ground while he held her hands, "I don't want to live the rest of my life trying to take over the world. To be honest, I don't fucking care about any of that."

She rose an eyebrow in confusion over his words. What was making him say all these things suddenly? "Wha-what? What are you talking about?"

He finally looked away from the ground and back at her. He held her hands tighter while he took a step towards her. "I don't want to destroy the world. I just want to live in it...with you."

She knew Scourge was never the type of person to be open about his true feelings but she could just tell from his expression that he was hiding this type of feeling from her and everyone else for a while now. World domination. It didn't matter to him. He only wanted to live freely in the world. With her. And she had to face the truth as well. Taking over the world was never something she absolutely desired to do. It just finally took him to say something for her to fully realize that. "Scourge..."

"Let's go, Fi. Away from here and away from this. What do you say?"

She paused for a moment as she briefly started to think of what they were both about to do. If they did this, they wouldn't be able to show their faces to The Dark Alliance again. And if they did, they were definitely good as dead. They couldn't come back. They could never come back. She gripped his hand tightly and formed a small and warm smile towards him. "...I don't care where I go. As long as I'm with you."

With a small and relieved smile on his face, he took her by her hand and ran away from the entrance of the power plant with her by his side.

Nails, Tikal, Espio, and Luke hurriedly made their way down from the roof of the building and back down onto the ground with the others where Shadow and Rouge were still fighting.

While Shadow was on top of her body, he pinned her wrists down onto the ground to hold her there until she used her foot to kick him off of her. After when he fell back onto the ground, he sat up and turned to the group who seemed ready to help him. "Hold her down!"

Before Rouge had the chance to get up from the ground and away from them, she was tackled back down by Tonya, Ker, and Charmy. When she tried to break free from them holding onto her, she caught sight of Nails approaching her with her hand extended out towards her. It had appeared that she was holding something but she couldn't tell what it was. When she slightly opened up her hand, she saw her blow some kind of black flower petals at her face. Before she could question what was going on, she suddenly felt faint and in no time, she had passed out.

Once they all thought it was safe for the moment, Ker, Tonya, and Charmy gently and carefully placed her down on her back onto the ground.

Charmy made a heavy sigh as he watched her sleeping peacefully it seemed, "That was close."

Shadow stood beside Nails and turned to her hoping that she knew what she was doing. "Is she going to be okay?"

Nails made an assuring nod towards him, "That was the spell I had to use to break her out of the mind control." She spun around to Tikal who was still holding the book in her hands and chanting the other spell. She walked over to her and held her hand out to her and hold it gently. She and Tikal looked down towards the sleeping back woman and closed their eyes to full concentrate on the spell they were chanting together.

The rest of the group gave each other uneasy looks and had hoped that the spell would go as smoothly as it did with Shadow. When they heard them chanting the final words of the spell, they all paused and looked back down at Rouge to see if there were any signs of movement from her but it appeared that she didn't even stir.

Even though she was still breathing, Shadow had still gotten concerned from the fact that she still didn't wake up. "...Rouge?" He kneeled down on the ground beside her and slowly reached out to her to place his hand on her shoulder. He gently began to shake her by her shoulder. "Rouge? Rouge, wake up!" When he didn't see her bothering to open her eyes, he started to shake her harder, "Please, Rouge. Wake up! You can't..." His words trailed off when he heard small groaning coming from her. "Rouge!"

Rouge had slowly opened her eyes and looked around her only to see Shadow and the rest of the group looking down at her with worried looks. "Sha-Shadow?"

Just hearing her voice replying to him had brought him on the edge of tears. "Rouge..." He sat her body up from the ground and placed both of his hands on the sides of her face while he looked into her aqua green eyes. A small yet relieved smile formed on his lips. "...You're all right."

Before she could say anything, she was suddenly pulled into a tight embrace by him. While he held her in his arms, she glanced around the dark and mysterious field within the power plant with a confused look on her face. "Wha-what happened?"

"You mean...you don't remember anything?" Luke figured maybe Nail's spell caused some kind of amnesia.

"N-No..." She turned to Shadow when he had let go of her, "I remember being captured by Devil and then he made me drink his blood." She placed her hand on her forehead and slightly shook her head, "And after that, it's all blank..." When she saw Shadow having a slightly disturbed look on his face, she figured she was probably under some kind of control and whoever was controlling her made her do horrible actions. "...I've done some bad things...haven't I?"

At that moment, Shadow didn't want to tell her all of the things she had done while she was under the mind control. There was too much to explain and he felt that now would not have been the best time for all of that. All that mattered to him was that he and her were back to normal and they still had each other. He made a small sigh and placed his hand on the side of her face to gently caress it. "...It's okay now." He then pulled her into another long and loving embrace. "You're you again. That's all that matters."

While Shadow was comforting Rouge, Charmy glanced around the area around them with a confused yet concerned look. "Hey...where's Scourge and Fiona?"

Ker crossed his arms after when he had slightly looked around for any sight of them as well. "They must've ran off while we weren't looking."

Tonya had a feeling that perhaps they both ran off to report back to The Dark Alliance to report about what had just happened. "I'm sure that won't be the last of them."

"For sure", Luke agreed in a bitter tone.

As Espio happily watched Shadow and Rouge comfort each other, he let out a heavy sigh full of relief. Now that Shadow and Rouge were back to their old selves, that was just one step closer to what they all had to do next. And just thinking about the feeling had made his stomach turn all over again.

 **Author's Note: The end is neigh!...For the story that is! Hope you all enjoyed this lengthy chapter! Find out what happens after in the last chapter!**

 **In The Next Chapter...The Last Chapter!**

 **Dark: I can no longer sense his essence...**

 **Angel: The mission went wrong?**

 **Joyce: ...Freya?**

 **Freya: I think I have to go...**

 **Shadow: The things I've done...I can't take it back...**

 **Rouge: Shadow, no!**


	21. Chapter 21

**CHAPTER 21**

Many hours had passed and it was starting to go early into the next morning. However it was early enough for it to be still dark outside. In the playroom of The Nest, the group of demons were gathered and had their attention on Dark who was sitting on his throne looking back at them with a disturbed look on his face. They all had figured something had happened.

Dark leaned and rested his back against the chair he sat in while he made a slight aggravated sigh before he had spoke out to the group. "It's official. I can no longer sense Darkness' essence."

Angel knew that Dark was the only who could feel Darkness' energy for miles due to the both of them having the same blood. If he couldn't sense his presence anymore than what had happened and what had became of him? "The mission went wrong?"

Devil had his arms crossed while he stood next to Angel. "Well no one has returned yet. And if Darkness' essence can no longer be sensed, I bet money The Chaotix or The Council has found a way to bring Shadow and Rouge back to their normal selves." It had to be what had happened otherwise something would have been reported.

Angel gasped and was shocked from the fact that Shadow and Rouge were brought back to themselves once again. She was curious to know how everything had happened. "Oh no! Darkness-san!"

Luthor rubbed his chin as he tried to figure out what could have caused all of this to happen. "But we just discussed this plan yesterday. How could they have known that they would be there? They couldn't have tracked them."

Dark placed a finger under his chin as he went into deep in thought about the situation. "Hmm...Fiona and Scourge aren't back either."

Another worried look came across Angel's face, "Do you think they're dead? You think The Council wasted them?"

Devil turned to her with a finger under his chin, "Scourge and Fiona are much stronger than they appear. So with them being both dead is not very likely."

Luthor spun around to Devil, "Then what does this mean?"

"It means..." Dark's blood red eyes slowly scanned around the room as his eyes glanced at the group who stood before him. "Someone wasn't very thrilled about Darkness' arrival and possibly dropped some kind of intel with The Council..."

"A traitor?" Luthor knew right off the bat that there were several possible candidates that could be the double crosser among them. As shocking as it was. The reality was not all of them were excited for Darkness' arrival.

"And it's interesting Scourge and Fiona didn't come back..." Devil had pointed out.

"Yes", Dark spoke in a low yet bitter tone. "Very interesting..."

While they all exchanged uncomfortable looks towards each other, Sky stood afar from the group while giving them all a cold look.

Meanwhile down in a large and dark basement of a small home located near the outskirts of Tech City, the only bit of light that was lighting up the basement came from a small television setting on a small metal table set in front of a large dark grey reclining chair. Hanging from the dark walls, the light from the television had reflected off of the sharp blades of axes, knifes, and other types of different blades. There were also different types of guns being displayed. Ranging from rocket launchers to simple handguns. Sitting in the recliner was a male gray panther with snow white hair that peeked out of the black fedora hat he wore. The panther appeared to be in his mid forties. He wore a black t shirt, a tan sleeveless vest, faded blue jeans, black boots, and black gloves. Around his neck, he had on a necklace that had strange white canines from teeth hanging around it. He slowly rocked back and forth in the chair and had his light blue yet bloodshot eyes lazily staring at the news on the television while he held a half empty beer bottle in his hand. He raised the bottle to take a sip of the beer that was left in the bottle as he continued to watch and listen to the news.

There was a newswoman who was talking about the mysterious cannibalistic murders that were taking place within and around Tech City. He lowly grumbled under his breath and slightly slurred his words, "Demons...those goddamn demons..." He suddenly took the beer bottle and threw it against the wall behind the television. The glass bottle shattered and the remains of the beer had started to drip down the wall. He continued to angrily glare at the screen of television, "I'll kill them. Every last one."

Much later on in the morning, the sun was finally out and slowly lighting up the azure sky. At The Tech City Hospital, Freya was in her mother's room to see how she was doing. She was sitting in a wooden chair beside her bed and held Joyce's hand as she looked at her with a small and warm smile. "I'm glad you're doing better, mom. At this rate, they'll end up releasing you and you can finally come home."

Her mother sent her a comforting smile back towards her while she held onto her daughter's hand. She caught sight of her no longer wearing her hospital gown. She was now wearing her casual attire. "Of course, sweetie. Nothing can keep me down. How are you feeling? Better I assume since the doctors officially said you can leave the hospital?"

She was relieved that she could now leave the hospital but at the same time, she didn't want to completely leave her mother's side. The doctors had told her that Joyce was in much better condition than she was but they recommended her to stay a few days longer so she could fully recover. She paused and then shrugged her shoulders carelessly, "Hey I'm alive aren't I?"

Before Joyce would say anything else, she heard the cell phone in Freya's pocket alert her of having a message. She watched her take her phone ouf of her pants pocket and began to read the text on the screen of her phone. "Who might that be? Midnight? He worries about you."

She slightly shook her head as she didn't take her eyes away from the screen of her phone. "...It's not Midnight."

Joyce had then saw the sudden serious expression on her face. She had figured something had seriously happened and it didn't look good. "...What is it, Freya?"

"I..." Her eyes stayed glued to the screen of her phone with her hands slightly shaking while she held her phone in her hands. "I think I have to go..."

She had given her a confusing look as Freya continued to stare at the screen of her phone.

Meanwhile at Shadow and Rouge's house, Shadow tiredly made his way downstairs and caught sight of Rouge sitting at the kitchen table. As he looked at her, he noticed an upset and tired expression on her face. She appeared to be deep in thought. With all that happened with him and her, he could only imagine what kind of things she was thinking about. He took a deep breath before he finally walked into the kitchen and approached her. "Good morning, hun."

She slowly picked her head up from the table and slowly looked up only to see him standing from across her with a concerned look on his face. "Good morning", she replied tiredly. She had then saw him pulling up the chair that was across from her at the table and took a seat.

"How'd you sleep?"

With her elbow setting on the surface of the table, she used her hand to rest the side of her face. She took her other hand and rubbed the side of her forehead. "Horrible." She had then rested her back against the chair she sat in and tiredly shifted her eyes over to him. "I barely got any sleep."

"Yeah. Me too." He figured she had a hard time sleeping and in all honesty, he had trouble as well. It was rough for him as he was way too focused on recollecting the things he had said and done while Darkness took control of his body. He took his hand and tiredly rubbed the side of his head, "I'm glad Nails and Tikal are looking after Spike while we try to regroup after what happened." He slowly shook his head and sighed heavily, "I'll be straight with you. I'm nervous as all hell about heading over to Sarah's office." He crossed his arms and shifted his eyes away from her, "It's gonna be a real pain in the ass trying to explain about what happened. Something tells me it's not gonna be pretty..." He wanted to believe that Sarah and the rest of The Council would have mercy on them both from what they had done but he had a bad feeling, it all wouldn't end well.

Rouge took her back away from the chair and leaned forward towards the table as her head and eyes were directed on the surface of the table. She bit her lip before she started to speak out, "I just wish..."

His eyes traveled back to her when she began to speak. "Hm?"

She had her hands placed on her thighs and slightly gripped onto them with her fingertips. "I just wish I could remember everything that happened while I was..."

He wasn't at all surprised by her wanting to know what she had done while she was under the mind control. The only things he had told her was she made him drink her blood while she was a demon which caused Darkness to break free. But he never told her of any intense details. He found it hard to even look in her direction as he remembered the lives they both took together.

She noticed his silence and slowly looked back up at him with a look that seeked answers."...I...killed people. Didn't I?"

While still not facing her, he made a small and slow nod, "...We both did."

With tears beginning to swell in her eyes, she slowly shook her head as she wished that everything was just a horrible nightmare. "But we didn't just kill them..." She spoke in a low and broken voice. "We...ate them..." Her stomach sank as those words passed her lips. She gripped onto her thighs tighter and found it hard to swallow as she tried to fight back her tears.

Just by hearing the sniffles and change of tone in her broken voice, he knew she was crying but he still found it difficult to look her in the eyes. "I...I know..." His ears perked up when he heard the sound of her chair being pushed back and her quickly getting up. When he turned, he saw her running over to the nearby trashcan in the corner of the kitchen with her lowering her head into it. The next thing he heard was the coughing and the sound of vomit splashing at the bottom of the trashcan. It tore him apart to see her like this. Even though he felt exactly the same way she did. He quickly stood from his chair and hurriedly made his way over to her. While she spit out the last bit of vomit into the trashcan, he rubbed her back gently with his hand. "Are you okay, hun?" When she wiped some of the vomit that was left around her mouth with her wrist, she lifted her head from the trashcan with her face soaked in her tears.

"I feel...so sick..." she sobbed softly. Her body was then forced into a tight and loving embrace. He gently ran his fingers though her soft white hair while he held her in his arms.

"I'm sorry, Rouge", he spoke softly. "I'm sorry you had to experience all of those horrible things. The things you did and said...the things I did and said..."

When she heard his voice slightly break up, she knew that he was trying to fight back his tears as well. When she looked back up at him, he took his hands and placed them on both sides of her face to slightly caress her.

His tear filled eyes locked into hers. "Everything I did...everything I said...you may not remember but I treated you like fucking dirt and he made me not care about anyone or anything. He truly made me a monster..."

At this point, she knew that he and her were both feeling the same way about what had happened. She knew he was upset about what happened but by just looking into his eyes, he was an emotional wreck. Just like her. "...Shadow..."

"He made me hurt you in the worst ways imaginable. And God I am so sorry, Rouge..."

It was obvious that Darkness was a cold and cruel demon who was self centered. After all she did encounter his counterpart before. He did just about anything to get what he wanted. But she had to wonder. What things did he make Shadow do and say to her? She was already well aware if Darkness controlled Shadow, he would still be aware of what was going on with his words and actions. So he knew what had happened during their time together as demons. One part of her was curious to know. Yet another part of her was way too frightened to ask. "Shadow", she spoke in a soft yet hesitant tone. "...What happened?" Her eyes widened when she saw a tear streaming down his face with continuous silence coming from him. Was it so bad that he couldn't easily come out with what he had done to her? This made her even more frightened to know the truth.

"Rouge", he finally spoke with his voice cracked. "I'm so sorry..."

Her heart raced. She could tell in his eyes that he was terrified and showed so much remorse. Was he going to tell her? If so how was she gonna handle it? Would the two ever be the same around each other ever again? "Shadow..." They were both suddenly startled when they heard a text notification coming from Shadow's cell phone. She watched him slowly take his hands away from her and take out his cell phone to read the message. As she looked at him, the worried look he had on his face never went away. "...What's wrong?"

"It's Espio. He wants me to call him." He looked away from the screen of his phone and looked back at her. "He says it's an emergency."

"Emergency?" She repeated in a blank tone. She had then watched him starting to make his way outside.

When he stood in front of the door, he turned to her to see her standing there giving him a worried look. He didn't even know what was going on but he tried to look like everything was fine. For her sake. "Don't worry. Everything's gonna be fine. I'm gonna talk to him. I'll be back."

She made a slow nod and watched him open the door to step outside to call Espio. Once he closed the door behind him, the kitchen was silent and the horrible thoughts that filled her mind wouldn't stop. She had to calm herself. She knew she couldn't face Sarah and the rest of The Council if her nerves were already shot. She had to snap out of it. She looked over to the cabinets and decided that maybe if he had a small cup of coffee, that would ease her nerves a bit. She tried wiping some of the tears from her drenched face as she walked over to open the cabinet. She could hear Shadow's voice from outside of the door. It was like he was talking to someone. Espio she had assumed.

"Espio? Slow down. I can barely understand you."

Her body began to slightly shake nervously. It was clear from Shadow's reaction that Espio was nervous and panicked about something. She wondered what was going on. She suddenly heard a loud thump coming from outside the door and then complete silence followed afterwards. She turned towards the door with a concerned look on her face. "...Shadow?" After not hearing a response from when she called him, she decided to make her way outside to be sure he was okay. She hurried over to the door and swung it open. Once she stepped outside, she glanced around her and didn't see anything that was unusual until she saw Shadow laying down on the deck appearing unconscious with his cell phone down on the ground setting beside him. "Shadow! Oh my God!" Before she could step over to him to see if he was okay, a male voice had suddenly spoken behind her.

"Hold it right there!" The male voice ordered.

She froze in her tracks and quickly spun around only to turn to two strange figures wearing black tactical uniforms with black helmets with the lens tinted so she couldn't see who they were. Her eyes caught sight of the G.U.N. logo stitched into the upper chest area of their uniforms. The both of them had pointed two strange rifle life weapons towards her.

"Don't move!" The other soldier had ordered.

At the moment she didn't care who they were. All she wanted to know was why they were there at their home? And what they had done to Shadow? "What? Who the hell are you? What did you do to my husband?" Before she could ask anymore questions, she was suddenly grabbed from behind and felt a sharp needle being shot into the side of her neck. She immediately felt dizzy from having the strange needle injected into her neck. While she was getting dizzier by the moment, she took the little bit of strength she had left and jerked the strange vile that contained the remaining amount of green liquid inside of it out of her neck. Once she took it out of her neck, she dropped the small vile down onto the ground and fell to her knees. No matter how hard she tried to fight it, the effects from the liquid had gotten to her quickly and everything was starting to get blurry. She saw the blurry image of a male yellow lion wearing a black G.U.N. uniform standing above her with the two soldiers standing beside him before everything had gotten black.

Meanwhile in the far outskirts of Tech city, on a large hilltop that was covered in green grass, a male black jackal had stepped towards the ledge to look down upon the large busy city in front of him. With his long white dreadlocks fluttering in the wind, the jackal stared down at the large city. His breathing could be heard through the silver metal mask he wore that only exposed a glowing yellow eye through the red visor. "So" he spoke. "This is Tech City..." He slowly raised his hand up, "At last I've come one step closer to finding one of the most powerful demons of them all..." He slowly clenched his hand into a fist, "Shadow The Hedgehog..."

 **Author's Note: And that's the end! Or is it? What's going to happen to Shadow and Rouge now? Will everyone forgive them for their actions? And who is this new mysterious jackal? Hmm! All will be revealed next week in the new story, Countdown To Zero! Thank you all for reading and supporting this story and I will see you guys on the flipside!**


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